Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Behind the Minister of State's comprehensive reply there is poor uptake of the various schemes available to companies, for example, 2% of Enterprise Ireland's, EI, clients. EI was established for export. Only 2% of the exporting companies supported by EI have applied for the be prepared grant.

There are 250,000 small businesses in this country and just 2,311 have filled out the Brexit small and medium enterprise, SME, scorecard to self assess their exposure to Brexit. We have a lot of work to do. It does not just fall to Government but to stakeholders in broader society, the business interest advocacy groups, chambers of commerce and others, but government must lead on this.

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