4A. (1) In the case of a credit guarantee scheme made to facilitate the provision of financial products to participating enterprises in response to the economic difficulties caused by Covid-19 (in this Act referred to as a "Covid-19 credit guarantee scheme")—

(a) any agreement entered into by the Minister under section 4 in accordance with that scheme shall be entered into on or before—

(i) subject to subparagraph (ii), the 31st day of December 2020, or

(ii) subject to subsection (2), such later date as the Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, appoint by order if he or she is satisfied that there is good and sufficient reason for doing so due to ongoing economic difficulties caused by Covid-19,

and

(b) any guarantee given pursuant to that agreement shall not exceed a maximum duration of 6 years from the date of the agreement.

(2) The date that may be appointed by order under subsection (1)(a)(ii) shall be a date not later than the F20[31st day of December 2022].

(3) The Minister shall not exercise the powers conferred on him or her by section 4 in accordance with a Covid-19 credit guarantee scheme in such manner as would result in the aggregate of all credit amounts in respect of all Covid-19 qualifying finance agreements exceeding €2 billion.

(4) The Minister shall not exercise the powers conferred on him or her by section 4 in accordance with a Covid-19 credit guarantee scheme in such manner as would result in the aggregate of the Minister’s liability in respect of all Covid-19 qualifying finance agreements exceeding €1.6 billion.

(5) In this section—

"Covid-19" means a disease caused by infection with the virus SARS-CoV-2 and specified as an infectious disease in accordance with Regulation 6 of, and the Schedule to, the Infectious Diseases Regulations 1981 (S.I. No. 390 of 1981) or any variant of the disease so specified as an infectious disease in those Regulations;

"Covid-19 qualifying finance agreement", in relation to a Covid-19 credit guarantee scheme, means a qualifying finance agreement to which a guarantee given under section 4 in accordance with that scheme applies.]