Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As I said in reply to one of the Deputy's colleagues earlier, I am very conscious of the threat of Brexit, particularly in the Border region and Northern counties. We have free trade at present both sides of the Border. As Deputy Smith said earlier, we really want to see that situation continue unchanged. The North East-North West action plan for jobs is the key policy response for supporting employment growth in the Border region, including Donegal. We have seen the unemployment rate in the Border region fall from 10.2% in the first quarter of 2015 to 6.6%. Clearly very good progress has been made in terms of job creation and in terms of supporting employment in Donegal and the Border region. The key point now is to ensure this continues and that we support enterprise to deal with any challenges that may be ahead.

I have already outlined to the House the initiatives we are taking to make sure that counties such as Donegal continue to see job creation. Additional funding of €150 million is being made available to IDA Ireland to support its regional property programme and to drive job creation. That is one response. Another response is making sure capital is available to companies at a low interest rate. The €300 million fund will help companies that may be experiencing temporary cash flow problems. The results of the applications to the regional development fund will be announced very shortly and there will be a new tranche in January. There is no doubt companies in Donegal have applied for it. There is a regional criterion for it. Enterprise Ireland is doing work on the Brexit scorecard, various supports and reaching out to companies. We have to make sure the companies that perceive themselves to be at risk have plans, that they diversify, work with the supports that are out there at present and face up to the potential challenges that Brexit will bring and that they are realistic about it and working on the issues.

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