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

12 o’clock

Numerous reports have been compiled, but we have been acting on the information contained in the Copenhagen report which was compiled last year. The Deputy is right when he refers to exposed sectors that are vulnerable to Brexit. We have raised this issue with the Commissioner. We are working with businesses to overcome the difficulties of this possible shock. When I met Commissioner Vestager in January, the focus of our meeting centred on the severe challenges Irish businesses, especially SMEs, would face when the United Kingdom left the European Union. The Commissioner emphasised that the Commission stood ready to act urgently to mitigate the impact of Brexit on Irish firms. We recently received state aid approval for Carbery Food Ingredients Limited to help the company to finance a €65 million diversification project to mitigate the impact of Brexit. I know that the Deputy is very familiar with this good company which is going through a significant transformation as it moves away from the UK market. It is changing much of its produce from cheddar cheese to mozzarella as it targets the Asian market. The test case demonstrates what we want to do for the food sector. The dairy industry which has been working extremely closely with the Government has announced investment of between €700 million and €800 million.

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