Ms Pauline Mulligan:

As Mr. Callinan said, from our perspective the Department has had a two-pronged approach to responding to Brexit. The first is about support for companies through the enterprise agencies. It is also about analysis and research to ensure we are doing what we need to do to support companies through the agencies. In addition, it is about preparing for the negotiations, so I might talk about that separately.

I will talk specifically about Enterprise Ireland, Science Foundation Ireland, IDA Ireland, and InterTradeIreland which deals with companies in the Border regions. The Minister, Deputy Mitchell O'Connor, secured additional funding in budget 2017. Enterprise Ireland has been working with 1,500 companies exporting to the UK but with specific attention to the 600 that are most exposed to the UK market. We saw the results from Enterprise Ireland yesterday. While some work has been done, there is a lot more to do in terms of helping companies to prepare for Brexit.

The scorecard introduced by Enterprise Ireland, which is not just for EI clients, has been a great innovation. It has been broadly welcomed as a diagnostic tool to help companies. They fill out the form online and the system helps them to identify areas where they have prepared but could do better compared with best practice. The scorecard is open to all companies and not just EI clients.

Enterprise Ireland continues to engage with companies. Its strategy is about diversification, innovation, product lines and diversifying markets outside the UK. The new eurozone strategy was announced yesterday along with the results. Enterprise Ireland is working closely with companies.

The impact of currency fluctuations was a particular concern for companies, so we engaged in qualitative and quantitative research analysis earlier this year. We interviewed more than 1,000 companies to see what their needs were in the context of Brexit, both in the short and medium term. That is the survey launched recently by the Minister, Deputy Mitchell O'Connor. The results of that survey showed that while the short-term impacts were not felt as much, companies are saying that more impact will be felt in the medium term.

In response to that, the Minister, Deputy Mitchell O'Connor, secured the agreement of the Cabinet committee on economy and jobs to do three things. The first is to develop proposals for a short-term working capital guarantee scheme for SMEs. My Department is working on that. The second thing is to scope out the development of a modern medium-term business development loan scheme. My colleagues are working on that with colleagues in other Departments, including the Department of Finance. Both schemes would be rolled out through the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland, SBCI. The third and final thing was to scope out this idea of a financial advisory hub for SMEs. All those are specific policy responses that we are putting in place based on the evidence we have gathered from companies we have spoken to.

As regards the next steps, we are involved in a range of other analysis and research. This includes looking at sectors which are most exposed and the impact on cross-Border trade. We funded InterTradeIreland to do a specific piece of research which is due to be published soon. It will examine the impact of a hard Brexit on cross-Border trade, with the UK being outside the Single Market and the customs union. It will also look at the impact on goods and trade.

We are also looking at the 18 sectors that are most exposed, based on their percentage of exports as a proportion of overall exports to the UK.

We are looking at the most exposed sectors by reference to the percentage of total exports and imports in each case. We are also profiling trade between the United Kingdom, Ireland and other member states and looking at all possible scenarios, from a hard Brexit to a comprehensive free trade agreement between the United Kingdom and the European Union. This will inform our deliberations on further supports for companies and positions in the negotiations to come.