Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for her response but information that Sinn Féin has received shows a very poor uptake of Brexit business supports to date. A response to a parliamentary question shows that, up to last month, just ten SMEs had availed of the Brexit loan, drawing down just €2.49 million, which is less than 1% of the total €300 million pot. In addition, we have been told that just 88 market discovery fund grants were given out and only 127 Be Prepared grants were approved. Has the Minister examined the reasons for the poor uptake? If so, what are they? Is the poor uptake due to too much red tape or the criteria being too strict? Has the Minister any plans to reform the process to ensure businesses can gain access to the funding in order to prepare for Brexit?

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