Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the funding announced yesterday, but as part of that funding, the Minister immediately needs to bring greater clarity to the type of mix of funding that will be granted. What percentage will be equity and what percentage will be loans? That should be done quite quickly. I worry about the schemes because based on the previous schemes, there seems to be a very low uptake. Business groups cite extremely restrictive conditions and limits for the low uptake. We have only a 14% drawdown of the €300 million Brexit loan scheme which the Minister alluded to. She alluded to the supports being put in place by her Department but only 1% of businesses which need to go to customs preparedness workshops have done so.

One of the schemes introduced last year was the Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund. More than a week ago, I received an email which I forwarded to the Minister. A recipient contacted me in relation to this scheme. The person said that almost a year later they, as a grant recipient, were still completely in the dark regarding this programme and that there was a litany of problems, some of which the person highlighted. While there are schemes, there are problems and there is a low uptake. What is the Minister going to do to reduce these problems and increase the uptake?

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