Banks ‘not interested’ in lending to food companies

Irish banks are not interested in funding capital-intensive food businesses with long-term expansion plans, according to the director of a Longford firm which is to double in size and create 110 new jobs.

Philip Byrne, a director of Panelto, said the expansion of its plant would not have happened without funding from Enterprise Ireland and the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund.

“The banks are not in the market for projects like this,” Byrne said. ...