Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Sinn Féin supports this Bill. We support all measures that will provide support for businesses and workers whose livelihoods will be adversely affected by Brexit. As the Bill, with the exception of the two new provisions, has passed through the Houses and my colleague, Deputy Quinlivan, has addressed it, I do not propose to speak to it in detail.

The only amendment to the Bill appears to be the increase in the aggregate limit for funding to Microfinance Ireland and the Science Foundation Ireland, which is fine, but it is not enough. While I support the Bill, I am frustrated that the Government is not doing a lot more. In the period since the Bill first passed through the Houses, serious issues have been raised in regard to State supports that have not been addressed in the Bill or elsewhere. For example, the British Irish Chamber of Commerce, IBEC and the Small Firms Association have all said that their members have serious concerns regarding the Brexit loan scheme. They believe it is overly bureaucratic, the qualifying criteria are such that some of the most businesses most vulnerable to Brexit have been excluded, and businesses that need support are not going to take on debt at a time of major uncertainty. This is evident in the low uptake of the supports, which has been highlighted on numbers occasions.

In regard to the Brexit loan scheme, as of this month, fewer than 200 loans worth €44 million, have progressed to sanction at bank level. In the case of the future growth scheme, 366 loans worth €58 million have progressed. The Minister has not addressed these matters. I do not understand why she has not altered the schemes to ensure they target the right sectors and the right businesses or provided additional supports for those who cannot borrow. Owing to the uncertainty, people are reluctant to borrow. Supports are also need for people who need assistance to diversify, to upskill workers and to do all they can ahead of Brexit to prepare. My colleague, Deputy Quinlivan, asked for a review of these schemes to establish what went wrong and how it might be rectified. His amendments were not supported on the basis that the Minister is engaging with other reviews. She has not shared the findings of those reviews with us, or what action she proposes to take.

During the passage of the Bill through the Seanad a week or so ago, the Minister said that she had not heard any complaints about the scheme. At a committee meeting yesterday, which I had requested to address these issues, several groups who represent business and workers raised concerns. I hope the Minister will review the submissions made to the committee and heed the concerns raised. She repeated her statement of two weeks ago that she had not heard any complaints about the schemes despite the low uptake at yesterday's meeting.

The budget is also another disappointment in this regard. Rather than a concrete plan, we were given vague statements relating to grants, loans and equity but nothing that might be useful or practical for business. I am glad that the Government has finally listened and has made provision for a €1.2 billion Brexit fund. It is not as ambitious as the Sinn Féin proposal for a €2 billion fund, which is money from State resources rather than borrowed money, on which the Government is relying. However, what is provided is better than nothing. I am sure it will reassure businesses that they will not be left completely to their own devices in the case of a no deal. These provisions are more of a crisis management approach than a Brexit plan. It is shocking that, at this late stage of the process, businesses are still unprepared and many feel the Government is failing them. The Border region is most exposed. Businesses in Border counties, including my constituency of Louth, are worried. There is nothing in this Bill that will specifically help the Border counties. I have tabled two amendments that seek to ensure Border enterprises are prioritised.

I hope that the Minister, as a Border Deputy, and given the acknowledgement in her Seanad speech that the Border will be worst affected, will support these amendments on Committee Stage.

The Border region has long suffered from underinvestment and neglect. Since Fine Gael came to power this has escalated and my own town of Drogheda is a prime example. I will discuss this further when I speak to my amendments. As this Brexit fiasco lurches from crisis to crisis in Britain, Border businesses are taking a hammering. Confidence is at an all-time low and it will ebb away as long as this goes on. It is important for those areas to see that the Government is standing with them, prior to and following Brexit.

The Bill will do the bare minimum. It does not offer targeted specific supports for businesses. That was made clear in the submissions. The supports offered have more of a consultation element to them, rather than being specific and targeted. It makes no provision for workers or people. An additional allocation was made in the budget for social welfare in the case of job losses. The Irish Congress of Trade Unions, ICTU, has said the same. There is nothing concrete to ensure that workers remain in their jobs. While investment in business is needed, the Government also has to invest in people to ensure they are supported to upskill or diversify their skills while remaining in work. This was done during the financial crisis in 2008. Sinn Féin put forward a plan to establish a similar scheme for Brexit, only we would target those most affected. This is an issue, in particular, for small and micro businesses in the export sectors such as agrifood and fisheries, chemicals and related products, and machinery and transport equipment, where Britain is the main or sole export market. Such a scheme would benefit workers and small businesses significantly. Has the Government plans to introduce a scheme of this type? I raised this yesterday with the Minister at the committee meeting and she did not give a response that I could have total confidence in. It is vitally important that we safeguard jobs, rather than just accept that a large number of people will lose them. If this could be done in 2008 by putting safeguards to ensure that people hold onto their jobs and stay in them, there is no reason the Government should fail to do that now. This is an issue that could be devastating for my constituency and it needs to be addressed.

Another issue that is absent from all of the Government's plans is capital investment. We were decades behind most European countries when the crash hit and we then had ten years of underinvestment in infrastructure. We all know that a major overhaul in transport, housing and public services is needed. I have no confidence in the Government's ability to deliver anything in this regard, given the mess it has made of broadband provision, and the overspend on the national children's hospital, as a result of which funding for other vital projects has been pulled. Housing and childcare are left to the market, despite the fact that we are in the midst of a housing emergency. The Government is making a spectacularly bad job of that, week in week out, and destroying lives in the process. We need to invest in infrastructure if we want businesses to thrive. I should not need to tell the Government that. This is basic and fundamental to what we are facing ahead of Brexit.

Brexit, on top of poor transport links and infrastructure, in particular outside of Dublin, is not good for business. How is the Government supposed to encourage investment in regional areas outside of Dublin if there is a deficit in public transport and in infrastructure projects that would encourage businesses, small and medium, to invest?

We will support the Bill, but it is lacking. I would much prefer if the Government had done much more. It has had ample time to prepare. This has been discussed for the past three years. The bare minimum is not good enough at this stage.

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