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

In addressing the amendments, I commissioned a wide-ranging review of the OECD on SME and entrepreneurship policies in March 2018. Part of this extensive review is examining the provision of supports for indigenous businesses and how they are assisted by Government Departments and agencies to grow. This report will examine the strategic framework and delivery system for SMEs and entrepreneurship policy in Ireland. The report will be published, for Deputy Naughten's information, in the third quarter of this year and we will await its findings and recommendations. I want to reassure the Deputy also that I am focusing on indigenous Irish companies and am very conscious that they also need to be supported on Brexit.

For that reason I take this opportunity to list the supports for non-exporting businesses. First, there is the Brexit loan scheme which is open to all businesses. It is a working capital facility that is available at an interest rate of 4%, repayable over three years. InterTradeIreland has a €2,250 Start to Plan voucher and one does not need to be an exporter to get this, but can be an indigenous Irish company. Regardless of the number of employees the company has it can apply for it. Yesterday, I launched the Start to Act voucher which is available through Enterprise Ireland which has a value of €5,650. InterTradeIreland has also received an additional €1 million from my Department in budget 2019, which was without the need for matching funding from Northern Ireland, because I knew that there was going to be an increased demand for its services in view of Brexit. For that reason it received an increase of 17% in its budget. It also has a complete suite of advisory services that are available to everybody, be it a tariff checker, or online customs training for those that are importing which can be availed of from InterTradeIreland which is providing a broad range of services.

The local enterprise offices are also marketing the InterTradeIreland schemes. This is available across the board, there is customs training, mentoring and business planning. They give out consultancy grants, with no limit as to employees, to companies of whatever size. They have lien grants and innovation supports through vouchers etc. All of the supports are available through local enterprise offices, regardless of the number of employees a company has or as to whether they are exporting or not.For that reason I increased the budget to local enterprise offices by €5 million in budget 2019, a 22% increase, to help them exactly what the Deputy said, namely, indigenous Irish companies.

There is also Microfinance Ireland which has €25,000 available for lending to SMEs and the credit guarantee scheme. There are a lot of supports available to indigenous Irish SMEs which are not exporting and I want to make them aware of these again and I thank the Deputy for raising this issue because no matter how many times this is said, people may not be aware of the supports that are available.

The Deputy’s premise as to the take-up of the Brexit supports is not correct. In fact, my information is that take up has been quite robust. The Brexit loan scheme was launched in 2018 and I am pleased to say that there has been a steady stream of applications so far. The Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland, SBCI, has received 462 applications under the Brexit loan scheme up to 22 February 2019. Some 413 of those applications have been deemed eligible for a loan under the scheme, and of those, 81 have been progressed to sanction at finance-provider level to a total value of €17.32 million. It is important to remember that this scheme is not a loan for businesses to carry on as usual. We are asking businesses to consider carefully what they need to do to address successfully their Brexit challenge through innovating, changing or adapting their business model in some capacity. These responses may include strengthening their product offerings, developing new markets to diversify their trade footprint, changing their organisational structure or developing new capabilities. Work continues on the longer-term future growth loan scheme, which will help eligible businesses invest strategically in a post-Brexit environment. This scheme was announced as part of budget 2019 and is expected to launch very shortly. In 2018, Enterprise Ireland provided approval for funding of €74 million to 535 Brexit-exposed companies across a range of Brexit financial supports. In addition, there were Brexit interventions with over 1,000 companies which have significant exports to the UK. Over 1,000 companies have attended Brexit advisory clinics across the country, and 4,400 companies have completed the Brexit SME scorecard, and almost 1,000 have completed the Enterprise Ireland online customs insights programme since December. Visits to theprepareforbrexit.iewebsite, which contains information on a range of Enterprise Ireland, local enterprise offices, LEO, and other agency supports, has increased ten-fold over the past 12 weeks and we have reached 90% of the SME audience with our Brexit supports communications. My Department has also allocated €8 million extra for Brexit staffing and supports across enterprise and regulatory agencies, the roll-out of new customs training through local enterprise offices and Enterprise Ireland, an Enterprise Ireland guide to best practice on managing currency volatility - the Deputy mentioned about customers needing to hedge their currency risk - and €1 million in additional funding for lnterTradelreland.

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All of our supports are kept under constant review and we have had no feedback to say there are gaps. We have dealt with any change that has been requested. For example, I regularly meet the business representative bodies. I have met the retailers and food importers to ensure the security of our food supply. I also meet all departmental agencies. A request regarding import VAT of 23% was brought to my attention. I raised the matter with the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, who has made changes in this Bill to address the issue of paying VAT at the point of import. It would have had significant cashflow implications for businesses, but the change will be of major benefit to them.

It is not necessary to legislate for a review of these supports. We review them constantly to determine whether there are gaps.

Regarding the Brexit stabilisation fund, we achieved agreement with the European Commission last week on increasing the rescue and restructuring safety net for SMEs to €200 million. We have close engagement with the Commissioner. She is well aware of the challenges facing this country and has assured us that the Commission will do everything it can to assist us.

I have covered most of the issues raised. For the reasons outlined, I cannot support these amendments. It is not necessary to insert in legislation the requirement to carry out a review. We work with all of the bodies involved and I meet businesses on a daily basis. For example, I attended an InterTradeIreland event yesterday. A large number of businesses were there. They are availing of the many supports that exist. I encourage people who have not yet engaged to do so. The Government is here to help and we want to help businesses in preparing for Brexit.

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