Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Our business community has been struggling, particularly in the past two weeks, in dealing with this lockdown. Restaurants, pubs and hairdressers are all working in a very limited capacity, if they are working in all. It has been a tough seven months for the Irish business community. We put major supports in place, such as the wet pub grant, the restart scheme and the restart grant plus scheme. Those supports have all worked to a degree and we must acknowledge that.

The major issue I have been coming across, however, particularly in the past two and half weeks, concerns the banks and how they have engaged with the business sector. I am concerned about the things I am hearing. These aspects include individuals having to go for remortgaging of their premises, and instead of having the 2.4% rate they were getting they are now being quoted up to 6% for these term loans. That will have a huge knock-on effect on the business community in future. People who have gone for overdrafts in the past two weeks have been asked for additional information or have been told that the bank might consider applications if they can apply with all that information. The amount of information being sought is unsustainable. It is not even practical for a short-term loan application. We must have a major debate regarding how the banks are engaging with our business community. If we do not, we will kill off our small to medium-sized businesses and that is becoming the biggest issue for me now.

It is appropriate that we have a debate with the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, on how he can engage with the banking institutions to ensure we have a level playing pitch. We do not have that now. There was a six months' rebate period in which banks stepped back. That has now ended. The banks are back doing what they did before, and that is being the bully. We need somebody to stand up for the small businesses, because they are not in a place, financially or mentally, to do that. Probably the biggest issue business owners have now is that they are mentally broke. It is important, therefore, that we have a constructive debate with the Ministers on how we can rein in the banks.