Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I went through some of the elements of Brexit related business supports, and there are a wide range of supports, whether through InterTradeIreland, Enterprise Ireland, local enterprise offices or the Brexit working capital loan facility and future growth loan scheme, which is a long-term Brexit loan scheme. There are many supports and there has been a major national awareness campaign for these supports, taking in events, clinics and seminars throughout the country. I have been getting very positive feedback on the various schemes that are available, including the start to plan vouchers from InterTradeIreland, the lean programmes from Enterprise Ireland, the local enterprise office mentoring programmes, the market diversification fund etc. Companies are using supports like these to make their businesses leaner and more efficient, which is very positive for businesses, irrespective of the final Brexit outcome. Of course I want to see as many businesses as possible availing of these supports and I have had no feedback from companies telling me that schemes are cumbersome or hard to access. Likewise, I have not had representations from Deputies telling me the programmes are hard to use and nobody has told me a company has indicated the supports cannot be used because they are hard to get at.

If committee members have specific examples of companies that have not been able to access supports, I want to hear about them. They can send those examples directly to me and I am willing to hear about specific problems. I have not received such feedback. There are many supports and a recent article in The Sunday Timeshad the headline that Brexit was bringing out the best in Ireland's SMEs.

It outlines some of the supports available and how they have used them to the benefit of their companies. They have made them leaner and more competitive.

On the global footprint and what we are doing to look for other markets, Enterprise Ireland will target the €3 million in additional resources I allocated to it in the budget towards its global footprint plans. It will get more boots on the ground and have more people working on behalf of Irish companies to identify new markets. It will also use some of the funding to provide for promotional training activities such as the Irish advantage and online customs training. As part of the global footprint initiative, it has identified a targeted expansion of its overseas offices representing our global ambitions to grow international markets, both emerging and established. There will be new offices in Manchester, Germany, León, Seattle and Melbourne. The new office in Melbourne, to which I did not get, was opened a week ago. There will also be new offices in Copenhagen and Vietnam. The offices in Milan, Budapest, São Paulo, Boston in the United States, Auckland, Shenzhen and Glasgow are expanding. There is a lot of work ongoing to increase numbers of boots on the ground.

IDA Ireland is working to diversify inward investment, both in the countries from which investment comes and the sectors involved. It is also working hard to avail of new opportunities in non-traditional markets. They include countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and South Africa. I am very encouraged by our progress in China, South Korea and India last year. I travelled to China last November and was in Singapore last week. There are significant opportunities for us in the Asian market. I know that IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland are working extremely hard to maximise opportunities, increase our presence and get more Irish companies into that area to sell product. I had the pleasure of launching a new restaurant in Singapore called Duckland. It sources as many of its products as it can from Irish companies. It uses Guinness, Irish pork, whiskey and duck. There is one company in my constituency with which I am very familiar, right on the Border, Silver Hill Farm, which exports 20,000 ducks a week to Singapore. It is about increasing these markets.

Of course, the United Kingdom will still be one of our closest trading partner. We will continue to increase our business there wherever we can, but our reliance on the United Kingdom for our overall exports is reducing and we are increasing our market share in other countries. Much work is ongoing in that space and we are supporting companies to diversify and it is working.

The Deputy talked about Enterprise Ireland's equity stakes. We have the seed and venture programme with funding of €175 million which was launched last year. Enterprise Ireland is one of the biggest seed capital investors in the country, if not globally. We have increased its powers in the Brexit omnibus Bill in order that it will be able to lend to Irish companies that will be impacted on by Brexit, not just take equity shares in them. Its equity stakes will be sufficient to fulfil its development role, no more and no less.