Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Those figures are extremely low. I am sure the Minister would have to agree with that. We have learned that just 122 of Enterprise Ireland's more than 5,000 client companies - that is, just 2% of the total - have availed of the agency's Be Prepared Brexit grant. The figures the Minister read into the record will not instil any confidence that people are actually engaging with the packages that are being provided.

Perhaps they do not have the wherewithal. As we know, people involved in business are consumed with the job of running the business. It would appear from the figures the Minister has read out, and from replies to parliamentary questions submitted by my colleague, Deputy Billy Kelleher, that the uptake is alarmingly low at 2%, that is, 122 of enterprise Ireland's more than 5,000 clients. These are staggeringly alarming low figures. What is the Minister doing to address this? My concern about Border counties is the same as that of the Minister and Deputy Brendan Smith. How will we grasp their troubles by the neck and get them involved and get them to take up the packages being made available?

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