John Halligan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will address Deputy Kelleher's question by saying that the Copenhagen Economics report did that. An interesting statement was made this morning by Mr. Simon McKeever, the CEO of the Irish Exporters Association. He acknowledged that much work is being done by the Government. As the Minister stated earlier, we are reasonably prepared, considering the complexities that face us and the unknowns. We do not have to go into great detail regarding what is happening in Great Britain.

We are doing everything we can with small and medium-sized companies and Enterprise Ireland. We have the market discovery fund, at which everybody should look, that offers three levels of grants. The first is up to €35,000, the second is greater than €35,000 but less than €75,000 and the third is greater than €75,000 but less than €150,000. The fund was launched in January in order to encourage companies to expand. We are confident and not only are we urging companies to be resilient, we are also urging them to expand into the English market and into new markets. We are providing finance to allow them to do that. All the help we are giving companies and everything we are making available can be seen on the website. We are doing everything possible. For example, we launched the credit guarantee scheme earlier today. As Brexit looms - or perhaps does not since we are not too sure of what is happening - the Department is well prepared to deal with whatever outcome it may have for companies in Ireland trading into the UK or elsewhere.

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