Microenterprise Loan Fund (Amendment) Bill 2024: Second Stage
Seanad Éireann — 2026-04-15
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Conor Murphy (SF), Industrial and Commercial Panel

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. We are supportive of the Bill. The Minister of State has outlined the critical role of Microfinance Ireland in the economic infrastructure of the State and the loans it provides to a range of small businesses. As other Senators have said, these are primarily outside of Dublin. As a rural representative, it is always encouraging when we see that level of support for rural communities.
The Minister of State referred to the increased demand for Microfinance Ireland. On the one hand, we could take that as a positive in that more small businesses are starting up and a lot more entrepreneurs are bringing their ideas forward but, on the other, is it the case that access to finance and the cost of doing business is putting more stress on people in sustaining businesses? It would be useful to get some analysis on where that increased demand has come from as the Bill progresses. I noted Senator Lynch's comments on increasing the top level of the loan available. That might be something the Government could come back to us on on later Stages of the Bill, to discuss whether that demand is about businesses starting or about them struggling.
The commitment in the programme for Government to scale up Microfinance Ireland to enable it to support greater numbers of start-ups in the future is important. Getting the right structures for Microfinance Ireland is something that is necessary. It would also be useful, perhaps on a future Stage, to examine the impact of any changes to the operation and governance of Microfinance Ireland and bring that back. It might be something we could return to on Committee Stage, to have a report back as to how the new structures are operating because, obviously, we all agree it is a critical part of our infrastructure.
Small businesses have really been hammered over the past number of years. The Covid pandemic put a lot of small businesses out of business completely and that has been followed by the cost-of-living crisis, the increased cost of doing business and cost of materials, and now we are in a real cost-of-energy crisis as well. That originated with the Ukraine war but more recent developments in Iran have really exacerbated that. We all saw the consequences of that this week, with people out protesting at the level of supports that are not available to them, which they need. There is a real challenge and pressure on businesses and it is important that when we look at this particular exercise, we are also mindful of the broader ecosystem in regard to issues that affect the economy, particularly for those who are smallest in the economic model, who are the ones who suffer the most stress in that regard.
There has long been a recognition that the economic model in this State is heavily reliant on large foreign direct investment, which comprises a small number of businesses in a small number of sectors. There is a real need to rebalance, to have more diversity across the economy and to have more indigenous business supported and developed, not just in developing at the beginning but also into growth and exports and into more substantial international businesses from Ireland. This is a way to assist the beginning of that.
I would like to see a real focus from the Government, in doing that, on recognising the volatility of having a lot of the economic capital in a very small and narrow sector. If it is run in the way we all wish to see it run, if it supports the businesses that need to be supported to get started up and if it provides diversity in the economy, then it can do a significant job in the long-term economic future. We will be supporting the Bill. There are a couple of issues that we will come back to at a later stage.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-04-15/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:48+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-15