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

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I am confident the enterprise agencies under my Department's remit have the necessary support and financial resources to enable them to address the challenges of Brexit and to capitalise on any opportunities it presents.

IDA Ireland was allocated an additional €700,000 as part of budget 2018 to further reinforce the €750,000 funding in 2017 to increase its staffing levels in the context of Brexit. This has significantly strengthened the agency's capacity to engage with firms about investing in Ireland, as well as addressing Brexit-related issues for the agency's current client base. More resources were also made available to the agency to allow for an increase in Brexit-related marketing and communication activities. This has included a new multi-media marketing campaign, targeting international investors, that highlights the advantages of locating or expanding in Ireland.

These additional resources are already helping IDA Ireland to produce results. To date, IDA Ireland has secured approximately 20 new Brexit-related investments from a number of different sectors. There remains potential to attract even more such foreign direct investment and I know the IDA is working hard to convert further opportunities into new projects here in Ireland.

Enterprise Ireland is actively supporting its client companies through its offices at home and across the globe to become more competitive and innovative and to diversify Ireland's export footprint into more markets in response to Brexit. Its capacity to assist Irish firms to deal with Brexit was originally reinforced by its pay provision for 2017, which included an additional €1.7 million to assist in the recruitment of 39 additional Brexit-specific posts. For 2018, to further assist Enterprise Ireland's response to Brexit, the agency was allocated an additional €1.3 million. I understand that Enterprise Ireland intends to recruit approximately 20 additional staff members as a result of this extra funding.

InterTradeIreland also has an important role to play in the context of Brexit, particularly in sustaining North-South trade. The body is uniquely positioned to understand the needs of businesses engaged in cross-Border commerce and it has been working hard to help its clients to prepare for the potential challenges associated with the UK's withdrawal from the European Union.

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