Tánaiste Joan Burton has said there needs to be a greater flow of money from the banks to small businesses in order to grow the economy.
Ms Burton was speaking ahead of a major conference on the future of the Irish economy taking place in Cork today.
Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney will join the Tánaiste and a number of senior academics and commentators at the conference.
Improving the country's competitiveness to ensure the economic recovery is sustained will be central to the discussions taking place at the County Hall in Cork city.
Ms Burton praised the announcement of €315bn from the EU Commission this week for job creation projects, but stressed that the banks need to get lending.
