The Taoiseach has told the Dail that the recapitalisation of banks alone will not solve the issue of access to credit for small businesses.
During leaders' questions, Brian Cowen said the Government was looking at a range of measures to remedy the liquidity problem but he said he was constrained in revealing what they were at this time.
He said that under the bank guarantee scheme, all covered banks were drawing up business plans and this process was at an advanced stage.
The Financial Regulator has received a draft report from consultants PriceWaterhouseCoopers on the banks.
On Thursday, it will receive the business plans from the financial institutions.
Mr Cowen said the Government would make more decisions when it had this information.
He said that if these plans did not contain measures to provide adequate lines of credit to businesses, they would be rejected.
He also said the Governor of the Central Bank and the Minister for Finance were meeting this afternoon.
Labour Party Leader Eamon Gilmore said the Government sounded like helpless bystanders.
Fine Gael Leader Enda Kenny demanded that the banks be recapitalised as he said 10,000 jobs were being lost every month as small businesses got squeezed.
Earlier, shares in a second Irish bank fell below €1 as international investors sell off stock in financial institutions.
Shares in Anglo Irish Bank were trading at 93 cent before 1pm, while shares in Bank of Ireland rose marginally today but still remained below €1.
