Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 11 December 2025
388. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment if any elements of the Credit Guarantee Scheme, SME Lending Code, or statutory protections for small businesses have been evaluated to determine if they would have captured or prevented the use of hidden contingent credit exposures within SME loan products. [71170/25]
View answerMy Department has implemented three credit guarantee schemes under the Credit Guarantee Act 2012, as amended. The SME Credit Guarantee Scheme (CGS) operated from 2012 until 2020, the Covid-19 Credit Guarantee Scheme (CCGS) operated from September 2020 until 30 June 2022 and the Ukraine Credit Guarantee Scheme (UCGS) operated from January 2023 until 31 December 2024. Loans under these schemes can be repaid until 2027 in the case of the CGS and CCGS and 2030 in the case of the UCGS.
An evaluation of the CGS is currently being carried out by officials in my Department and is due to be completed in 2026. This evaluation will focus on whether the scheme was effective in achieving its intended outcomes, efficient in the use of public resources, and meaningful in terms of the impact delivered. It will not cover whether there could have been use of hidden contingent credit exposures within SME loan products. Loan products offered under these schemes were typically term-loans for liquidity and investment purposes.
The SME Lending Code was replaced by the Central Bank (Supervision and Enforcement) Act 2013 (Section 48) (Lending to Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises) Regulations 2015, S.I. No. 585/2015. My Department has no role with regard to these Regulations.
