Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 3 February 2021
24. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the value of lending permitted under the future growth loan scheme by each lender accepting loan applications for the scheme. [5646/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Future Growth Loan Scheme makes lending available to SMEs and small mid-caps (up to 499 employees) seeking financing for long-term strategic investment, including in response to the impacts of Brexit and COVID-19.
The scheme initially made available up to €300m in lending, however it was expanded by €500m in July of 2020 in response to the impacts of the pandemic.
At present, there are five participating finance providers under the scheme: AIB, Bank of Ireland, KBC, Permanent TSB and Ulster Bank, all of which were awarded allocations under the competitive open call process.
As of the 29 of January 2021, 3,024 loans have been sanctioned through the Future Growth Loan Scheme to the value of €611.1 million.
The volume of lending allocated to each provider under the scheme may be considered commercially sensitive information for some lenders. However, based on the allocations made to the lenders, Bank of Ireland and AIB are currently not accepting new applications to the scheme as they are working through significant “pipelines” of loan applications. These existing pipelines of loan applications are likely to translate into tens of millions of further lending being made through the FGLS by these banks, and, likely to bring these lenders to their allocation limits under the scheme.
KBC, Ulster Bank and Permanent TSB, continue to have capacity within their allocations to accept new applications and the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland [SBCI] are currently working to bring an additional lender to the scheme.
SMEs seeking to access the FGLS are encouraged to make an application through SBCI for an eligibility code for the scheme, which they can then bring to any of the participating lenders that are still accepting applications for the scheme.
Businesses that have been impacted by COVID-19 and are looking to invest are also encouraged to consider the COVID-19 CGS scheme, which allows for lending for investment purposes for up to five and half years at lower interest rates than available through the FGLS.
