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

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate. As somebody who has lived all my life in a Border county, I am acutely aware of the challenges that Brexit presents to this country. I know the very real fear in communities all across the Border region about what the final Brexit outcome will look like and the impact it will have on their lives, businesses, farms and families.

We are living in uncertain times. The fact that we are debating legislation tonight that I believe, it is safe to say, everybody in this House hopes will never be needed perhaps sums up that uncertainty best. There will be no winners from a hard Brexit; only losers. Nevertheless, it is incumbent on us as a Government to prepare for all eventualities and, in that regard, the passage of this legislation is both prudent and necessary.

Brexit, in whatever shape it takes, will be difficult for businesses. It will involve change of some sort and businesses need to be prepared for that. In the event of a hard Brexit, the immediate impacts for business could include significant sterling volatility and the imposition of World Trade Organization, WTO, tariffs on Irish goods exported to the UK, and on UK goods which we import. As part of our whole-of-Government response, my Department is working with Brexit-exposed firms, in particular with clients of Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland, InterTrade Ireland and the local enterprise offices, LEOs.

It is important that we offer supports to our indigenous enterprises to deal with the challenges of Brexit and that is why all our agencies have been provided with increased funding specifically for Brexit preparations. A wide range of supports are in place to support business, including a €300 million working capital loan scheme; a €300 million longer-term loan scheme, which will be available from the end of March; the Brexit SME Scorecard, which can be used by all Irish companies to self-assess their exposure under six pillars; the market discovery fund to support market diversification; a new online customs training tool through Enterprise Ireland; and start to plan vouchers from InterTrade Ireland worth €2,250. In budget 2019, I increased the funding for InterTrade Ireland by €1 million. That represents an almost 20% increase. The work InterTrade Ireland is doing to help businesses both North and South to prepare is to be commended. I regret the fact that there is no Executive in place in Northern Ireland to provide matching funding at this crucial time.

The package of Brexit supports I have introduced through our enterprise agencies to date has been invaluable to many businesses but I recognise there is still more to do. That is why, under Part 3, I propose amendments to the Industrial Development Acts, 1986 to 2014. That will allow Enterprise Ireland to further support businesses, help them remain competitive internationally, sustain and create employment, and facilitate future economic growth, which is important as we deal with challenges such as Brexit.

Specifically, the amendments in part 3 of the Bill will increase the ability of Enterprise Ireland to support greater research and development activity in its client companies in several critical sectors so that Irish firms can be as competitive as possible on EU and world markets and the effects of Brexit may be mitigated somewhat. Among other elements, the amendments will facilitate Enterprise Ireland in providing research grants to the horticultural sector for the first time and provide grants to support critical research activity overseas where those research facilities or services are not readily available within the State, such as clinical trials for the pharmaceutical and veterinary sectors. It will permit research grants up to permissible EU aid limits and in this regard the current 50% cap set out in national legislation will be removed.

Section 7 provides Enterprise Ireland with the powers to facilitate additional lending investment instruments in certain circumstances and increases the flexibility to support enterprise development and to manage its investments on a par with private sector investors. Such additional powers will help to preserve the value of the State's investment in these businesses and will assist companies through restructuring or redevelopment programmes.

I should make the House aware that there are no additional costs to the Exchequer as the costs for these elements will be accommodated within Enterprise Ireland's existing resources and, in certain cases, the use of new debt instruments will be provided instead of grants that would otherwise be given. It is worth noting that the introduction of this suite of amendments does not mean Enterprise Ireland would be obliged to always provide these supports to individual companies. Each project will have to withstand rigorous evaluations and due diligence, as is the norm, to be deemed eligible for agency support. It is now more important than ever that Enterprise Ireland can respond in an agile and flexible manner as the opportunities and challenges for its client companies change more pertinently in the context of a potential no-deal Brexit and as the investment market changes. It is also important that Enterprise Ireland can flexibly deploy the widest array of interventions that match supports available in other countries, particularly now in a Brexit context. These amendments will therefore build upon the already extensive suite of Brexit resilient measures which this Government has taken and is taking, by supporting businesses through a range of investment instruments, loans and grants as part of the response to limiting the negative effects of Brexit. It will help Irish businesses to remain competitive, to innovate in terms of new products and service development and to grow in existing and new markets.

I would like to comment quickly on queries raised by my colleagues in the Chamber yesterday evening. In response to Deputy Lisa Chambers, I formally launched the first of a series of local enterprise office customs training workshops in Cavan on Monday of this week with further workshops taking place throughout the country. These workshops are in addition to Enterprise Ireland's free customs insight course, which I launched in December 2018. This course has been developed for all Irish SMEs, and is an integral part of Enterprise Ireland's prepare for Brexit campaign to encourage SMEs to be fully prepared for all eventualities. Information on customs has been also available on Revenue's website for some time.

In response to Deputy Cullinane, I point out that legislation is not required in the Brexit omnibus Bill regarding state aid as this is formed at EU level. However, my Department has been proactively engaging with the European Commission for some time to find solutions to assist Irish enterprises. The technical group established has achieved results that benefit our Irish businesses. For example, just last week, the European Commission gave state aid approval for national investment in an Irish cheese producing company.

Of course, my officials and I will be happy to respond to any further queries Deputies may have as the Bill progresses through the Houses. My Department, along with our enterprise and regulatory agencies, is taking every possible step to ensure Irish businesses are as prepared for Brexit as they possibly can be. However, as I said at the outset, there are no winners from Brexit. It remains my strong hope that the withdrawal agreement will be accepted by the United Kingdom, but should the worst come to pass and if we end up with a no-deal scenario, the passage of these amendments, together with the wide range of supports already put in place by Government, will ensure we have in place the necessary suite of tools to assist business in what will without doubt be an extremely challenging period ahead.

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