Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is not my intention to divide the House on this, but my amendment is fair and reasonable. I have outlined to the Minister why we need this amendment. Local enterprise offices are calling for its provisions. They have met the Minister. They want to be able to support businesses of over ten employees. They want to be able to support companies that do not fall under the Enterprise Ireland criteria.

That is the reality of it. These businesses will struggle. At the moment, all of the focus is on a hard Brexit in 24 days and, with all due respect, the Government had to focus on that. I fully accept that it had to focus on exporters and importers but regardless of whether it is a soft or a hard Brexit, within 21 months we will have Brexit in Ireland. This will not just impact on importers and exporters but also on small businesses throughout this country. They are not exporters because they do not have the opportunity to export but they are creating a lot of jobs in provincial towns and rural Ireland. However, they do not fall under any of the support criteria in place at the moment. We need to broaden the definition of the supports that are available through the local enterprise offices, LEOs. The LEOs themselves want to be able to assist these companies. We also need to broaden the definition of support provided by Enterprise Ireland, not just focusing on exports but also on import substitution, particularly when our nearest neighbour is going to be a third country. This will open up opportunities for import substitution and will allow Irish companies to fill that void.

The Minister made reference to a review report in quarter three of this year but to me, that is live horse, and get grass. These companies cannot wait that length of time. That is why I have laid out in my amendment that the report would be presented to Dáil Éireann within 90 days, regardless of whether we have a hard or a soft Brexit. The report should detail how we can support the non-exporting indigenous local businesses that are the backbone and bedrock of employment throughout this country. These companies must be supported but there is a gap in the system. As a State, we must put the mechanisms in place to support those companies in the context of Brexit. Regardless of whether it is in 24 days or 21 months, Brexit is happening and these companies need support.

See this speech in context