2. The purposes of this Act are—

(a) to encourage the giving of credit in a prudent manner to enterprises and other persons in the State, in particular SMEs, and facilitate the availability of credit in the State to benefit the economy and the economic well-being of the State,

(b) by forming the private company referred to in section 5 , to enable, facilitate and encourage new providers of credit within the State to facilitate—

(i) availing of credit and making credit available through on-lending to enterprises, in particular SMEs, and persons, in the State, and

(ii) the making available of funding for the provision of credit to enterprises, in particular SMEs, and persons, in the State,

(c) to avail of sources, both in and outside the State, of funding for the purposes of making credit available to persons, and in particular SMEs, in the State,

(d) to enable the Minister to guarantee borrowings of and provide funding to the company referred to in section 5 to facilitate and promote funding for the purposes of making credit available,

(e) to address the compelling need to facilitate the availability of suitable credit in the economy of the State,

(f) to protect the interests of taxpayers,

(g) to contribute to the economic development of the State,

(h) to enhance the competitiveness of the economy of the State, and

(i) to provide for related ancillary and consequential matters connected to the above purposes.