Just Transition chief slams banks over lending woes at south Longford accessibility centre opening

The Roscommon native and the man tasked with guiding the development of the region in the aftermath of the ESB moving away from fossil-fuel generated power, hit out at the difficulties businesses face in securing financial support.

The chairperson of Sport Ireland also bemoaned the image many leading financial institutions are adopting in a bid to portray a more environmentally friendly image.

“I think there should be more responsive and more receptive to small and medium enterprises and particularly start ups,” he said.

“I know a number of start ups in this region who have had difficult in getting finance to match the Just Transition.

“They have gone to banks and financial institutions when they might as well have gone to the moon.”

Mr Mulvey was speaking in Ballyleague, Co Roscommon at the official launch by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar of the first accessibility centre for water sports on the island of Ireland last Friday.

He said he had been left paticularly aggrieved at how, despite almost €150m being rooted in deposit accounts, banks are playing a cautious game with lenders.

“What really does annoy me is the advertisements claiming that we are supporting green enterprises,” he said.

“I think it’s PR and I am not sure they are actually doing that.

“We need more empathy and banks are awash with money.

“There is €148bn in personal savings in our banks at the moment. They need to lend it out to the people of Ireland who are enterprise orientated.

“They need to take the risk and we deserve that risk for what we have done for them.”