Tender for State's small firm loan scheme

THE GOVERNMENT is expected to advertise for an operator to run its partial temporary loan guarantee scheme as early as today.

A request for tender is expected to be published on the public procurement site, as the Government seeks to move on the introduction of the scheme, which has faced some delay since it was first announced.

Yesterday, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton confirmed that a temporary partial loan-guarantee scheme will be in place by the first quarter of 2012. The Government may guarantee up to €150 million next year, which will be reviewed at the end of 2012, while there is a provision to guarantee up to €450 million over three years, although the Minister stressed the scheme would be “demand led”.

A new Micro Finance Loan Fund to help start-up businesses is also to be established.

The micro-finance scheme will involve a €10 million commitment from the Government, from which it hopes to leverage another €100,000 in private investment.

Both initiatives had been previously announced by the Minister in May as part of the “Jobs Initiative” announcement.

At the time he said the partial loan guarantee scheme would be in operation by the autumn.

Earlier this year, the contract for the design of the scheme was awarded to Capital for Enterprise, a public body owned by the UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, which has experience developing and operating similar schemes in Britain.

Capital for Enterprise has been consulting business representative groups and other stakeholders in Ireland over the last few months about the design of the scheme.

Business representative group Isme criticised what it said was the delay in introducing the scheme, while the Small Firms Association criticised the absence of a specific fund amount.