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

I thank the Senator for his questions. We have a range of supports to help small traders to deal with any new customs arrangements. I acknowledge their concerns and worries. The first thing we encouraged everybody to do was to register for an economic operators registration and identification, EORI, number with Revenue. Without that, one cannot do anything. The local enterprise offices, LEOs, have been rolling out training schemes to assist small businesses. If any trader is concerned or worried, the first port of call should be the LEO, where he or she will receive information and direction. If traders need more in-depth training on customs procedures, they can access the Clear Customs initiative which is being rolled out in conjunction with Skillnet Ireland. In addition, Enterprise Ireland has an online facility which provides the information businesses need regarding Brexit.

There is no doubt that Brexit will impact the tourism sector. An allocation of €7 million is included in this year's budget and €40 million in the 2020 budget to support the industry. That funding is available through Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Ireland.

The Senator makes a good point regarding ICTU and the need to support workers as well as businesses. We are very conscious of that. I have met with representatives of ICTU as part of our consultations regarding Brexit. I have also met with the Department of Employment and Social Protection, which will fully resource a short-term work support scheme to provide an opportunity for employers to retain skilled labour in a reduced capacity and avoid permanent lay-offs and associated redundancy costs. This will be particularly beneficial to retailers who may be impacted by cross-Border shopping in a sterling depreciation scenario and to businesses in the tourism, hospitality and fishing sectors. Food and engineering sub-suppliers may also need to go on a reduced working day. The scheme will provide a subsidy that allows workers' wages to be maintained and enables them to use the time they are not working to reskill or upskill via training programmes. There are other areas of the economy where we do need people. In addition, the National Training Fund is being further supplemented in budget 2020, which, coupled with the new flexibilities in training services, will ensure tailored training and upskilling for workers can be deployed. It is important that we have this suite of supports for workers as well as businesses. Having also met with representatives of Ibec, my position is that we must work together to deal with any difficult situations that may arise.