Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 25 January 2023
41. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the amount of funding that was allocated to Microfinance Ireland by his Department in 2021, 2022 and to date in 2023, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3478/23]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe following payments were made to Microfinance Ireland in 2021, 2022 and to date in 2023 by my Department, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (DETE).
|
Microfinance Ireland |
2021 |
2022 |
To date 2023 |
|
DETE Payments made |
€5,000,000 |
Nil |
Nil |
The Microenterprise Loan Fund, operated by Microfinance Ireland assists businesses with fewer than ten employees. It provides much-needed funding to help microenterprises meet payments for stock, working capital requirements and other overhead expenses through the provision of low-cost lending facilities.
Microfinance Ireland provides vital support to microenterprises by filling the lending gap in the market by lending to business that cannot obtain loans from other commercial lenders. It provides loans of €2,000 up to €25,000 to businesses that do not meet the conventional risk criteria applied by commercial lenders and applies interest rate charges for its lending which are not reflective of its credit risk.
The loan term is typically three years for working capital purposes and can be extended to five years for capital expenditures. Interest rates range from between 4.5% for clients of Local Enterprise Offices and other partners to 5.5% for direct applications.
There is wide regional spread of loans across the country with 81% of loans approved in 2022 to microenterprises outside Dublin.
The dominant sectors availing of loans from MFI have been the wholesale and retail sector (21%), accommodation and food services (11%), manufacturing (10%) and construction (9%).
From the 1st of Oct 2012 to 31st December 2022, the Fund approved loans to 4,635 micro-enterprises for a total value of €76.9million. These funds supported over 10,000 jobs.
