Central Bank figures show that lending by banks to small businesses in the third quarter of this year fell by 8.2% compared with the same period a year earlier.
This represented a drop of €2.5 billion over the 12 months. The annual fall was not as big as the 9.8% drop recorded in the second quarter.
Lending to all businesses - excluding financial and property - fell at an annual rate of 7% in the third quarter.
The Central Bank said lending to households fell at an annual rate of 2.5% in the third quarter. Mortgage loans also dropped 2.5% over the year.
Tracker mortgages account for 53% of home loans on Irish banks' books, while standard variable rate mortgages account for 32%. The figure for fixed rate mortgages is 13%.
According to the Central Bank, loans for buy-to-let residential properties totalling €24.2 billion account for a quarter of all mortgage loans.
Households held €86.5 billion of deposits in banks at the end of September, down 0.6% from three months earlier and 5% over the year.
