Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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33. To ask the Minister for Trade, Enterprise and Employment the status of his Department’s Brexit preparations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35044/20]

Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for taking this question. On Brexit and the preparedness of small businesses, is he familiar with the research done by the customs clearance service, Declaron, a new partnership between the accountancy firm, BDO, and the fintech company, Fexco. According to their research, 37% of Irish businesses that trade with the UK have yet to start planning for Brexit. Businesses list their primary reason for not preparing as the fact that no trade agreement is in place yet. It is just 50 days until 2021 and such findings seem to me extremely worrying. Is the Minister of State surprised or alarmed by these findings?

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. On the basis of research such as that and research we have been undertaking through our own agencies and in conjunction with the representative bodies we have worked with on a weekly basis on Brexit over the past number of years, we are concerned that a number of companies have yet to engage with the system to deal with Brexit and with our Department and agencies. That is why we have gone to great lengths in the past couple of months to reinforce the message and encourage that engagement and ask companies to get prepared for Brexit. The State is in a position to assist companies through Brexit and through Covid. We have the additional resources in place to do that but we need companies to engage with us, put up their hand, ask for that help and ask us to see how we can engage with them to put them in a stronger position.

Our Department and agencies under our remit have intensified Brexit-readiness preparations over the past couple of weeks. The Tánaiste has written to more than 200,000 companies to ask them to check their system, supply chain and trading conditions, to engage with our agencies, to draw down some of the grants that are available towards more personnel and supports and to avail of the additional financial products to help companies through the early months of Brexit.

Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State. I note what he said about the 225,000 businesses that have been corresponded with, which is welcome, but the Declaron research also found that 54% of businesses that trade with the UK do not understand the new custom clearance procedures that are guaranteed to come into effect on 1 January 2021, which is worrying. Does the Minister of State agree with Carol Lynch, one of those who participated in that research, that many businesses seem to be sleepwalking into the trade agreement trap? Is he confident that businesses know that, even if the trade agreement is reached, there will still be a requirement for import and export declarations? Is there anything that can be done about this?

Last month, a new online Enterprise Ireland Brexit readiness checker was launched to help businesses, which is welcome. What was the response to that? If the Minister of State does not have the answer this evening, perhaps he will furnish me with it because I would like to know how many businesses have logged on.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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We have been saying clearly for the past couple of months that, regardless of how the talks finish up in the weeks ahead, there will be major changes for business, including in the customs area. That will be new to many businesses that have operated in Ireland over the past 30 or 40 years. It is a new challenge for them. We recognise that and that is why the Tánaiste and the Government made money available for customs support and we announced a specific €20 million fund for the ready for customs support scheme. In that, we encourage businesses to come forward and draw down a fund of up to €9,000 towards an employee or people to enable them to prepare for the customs challenge.

It will be difficult and the Tánaiste, the Minister of State, Deputy Troy and I have been engaging with companies and representative bodies. We have been down at the ports and engaging with Revenue and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine on the processes and complications involved. We recognise that life will be complicated. Brexit will put barriers on trade and will make it more difficult. That is why those companies need to use the remaining 50 days plus to prepare themselves to engage the skills they need to trade through this when the customs are in place.

Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The €20 million fund the Minister of State referred to is welcome. However, my fear relates to those businesses that may not be aware of the full impact of Brexit or that, because of Covid, have not paid enough attention to it and have had other issues such as keeping the doors open on their minds. It is important that the Department and the Ministers responsible double down on making sure those businesses are aware. Some of these businesses have never dealt with customs issues if they have traded purely within the European Union. We need to get ahead of the issue. The Minister of State spoke about the €9,000 support for employees to be trained, which is welcome, but it is essential, with just 50 days left, that we prioritise this issue in order that businesses are well prepared in advance of a bad deal, which unfortunately seems likely in respect of Brexit.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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I again thank the Deputy for raising this because it helps us bring the focus onto this. We totally agree with him. From a departmental point of view, we want companies to engage and recognise how serious this is. We acknowledge that, since February, companies have had a great deal thrown at them in regard to Covid and they are trying to manage their way through that. However, Brexit is looming and is coming in approximately 50 days. In fairness to companies, there have been many deadlines in the past couple of years in respect of Brexit and they have kept moving, so they might be a bit relaxed as we get closer. However, we have seen a greater engagement over the past few weeks in preparing for Brexit. The supports are there to help companies with the customs ends of this and the personnel required for that. Quite a number have engaged and drawn down the grant but we want more to do that.

I know from chairing the retail consultation forum that many in the retail sector are well prepared but there are concerns out there that a number of companies who are either importing or exporting from the UK are not prepared. We are in a position to work with them and, even at this late stage, to help them prepare as best they can but they have to engage. We are trying to locate them but we need them to come forward and if any Members can help, we would be delighted to support that.