Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I told the Deputy previously that we are reviewing Enterprise 2025 and I will have a first review document on that in June with another report to follow later in the year.

Ms Sinnamon said yesterday that exports to the UK had only increased by 2% when we were hoping for a 12% increase. The eurozone strategy launch yesterday was about encouraging companies to grow their business in Europe.

We are working with the Departments of Finance and of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Enterprise Ireland and SBCI to develop supports to respond to the needs of businesses impacted by Brexit. First, there will be a Brexit working capital guarantee scheme, which is a loan guarantee for SMEs that need additional liquidity to cope with working capital challenges brought about by Brexit. Second, there will be a longer term business development scheme. We are considering the need for such a scheme to support SMEs to reposition for the post-Brexit environment. The state aid implications are currently being worked through. A great deal can be done within the existing state aid framework. We are confident that the measures in development will be state aid-compliant. However, should issues arise that require an approach that does not fit within the existing rules, we will discuss that with the EU Commission.

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