Mr. Arnold Dillon:

I will speak briefly on particular proposals and will be happy to forward more specific details to the committee. First, there is a need for an enterprise stabilisation fund that would allow companies that are going through a very rocky period because of the currency shock to access funds. This was done before during a previous crisis and was managed by Enterprise Ireland. I think there are grounds for that to be replicated given the current context. Additional funding is required for market diversification. This would allow companies to explore new markets and new opportunities in the context of potential new trade barriers being erected into the UK and to alleviate the existing currency barrier because of the fall in sterling. We need to look again at access to finance and ensure the strategic investment fund is in a position to provide sustainable funding to Irish companies.

In regard to trade finance measure and online trading supports, we already have some supports that help support small companies to expand their business online. We need to raise the threshold so that larger businesses can access similar supports.