Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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84. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the steps his Department is taking to mitigate the impact of Brexit on businesses; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60515/21]

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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What efforts are being made by the Department to mitigate the impact of Brexit on businesses?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy is aware, Brexit is not a passing storm; it is a permanent change in our relationship with the United Kingdom with which the Government, business and citizens will have to deal for some time. On a positive note, it was confirmed earlier this week that Ireland's allocation under the Brexit adjustment reserve is €1.165 billion at current prices. This represents just over 20% of the total reserve, or the largest allocation for any member state.

This week, I spoke at the launch of two ESRI reports on cross-Border trade and services and enhancing the attractiveness of the island of Ireland to high-value foreign direct investment, FDI. These are the first publications from the ESRI joint research programme with the shared island unit of the Department of the Taoiseach. This research provides empirical evidence on the competitive advantage that the protocol provides for Northern Ireland. EU market potential is a driver of location choice for high-value FDI, including manufacturing, which is a sectoral strength for Northern Ireland, having access both to the UK internal market and the EU Single Market. Importantly, the ESRI work estimates the benefits of what we could do in a co-ordinated way on the island to enhance the overall prospects for attracting high-value FDI and the skilled jobs that go with it.

Budget 2021 allocated unprecedented resources to confronting the twin challenges of Covid-19 and Brexit, with €340 million to be spent on Brexit-related measures. Following on from the previous Brexit loan scheme, in October we launched the Brexit impact loan scheme which will make up to €330 million in low-cost lending available to eligible businesses. It is a competitive loan scheme, providing loan terms of up to six years, with loans ranging from €25,000 to €1.5 million and up to €500,000 available unsecured. Since the launch of the scheme, 77 loans have been sanctioned, to the value of €7.6 million. Enterprise Ireland's evolve strategic planning grant offers up to €5,000 to assist exporting companies, while its market discovery fund helps companies to research viable and sustainable new market entry strategies. Enterprise Ireland, EI, is providing post-Brexit advisory support on sourcing, customs and logistics and can also provide strategic consultancy grants and the agile and operational excellence grants to boost innovation and increase competitiveness.

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Tánaiste. There are a couple of areas I wish to pick up on in order to drill down. The first is tied to the point on which the Tánaiste finished in terms of the work EI is doing with businesses to help them prepare. What work has been carried out in recent weeks to help businesses prepare for the checks that are due to be implemented in Great Britain on 1 January for Irish companies that are exporting to the British market?

The second and more important point relates to the more general approach to championing diversification. The diversification of export markets was discussed earlier with the Minister of State with responsibility for agriculture and trade promotion, Deputy Heydon. I refer to the diversification of routes and logistics to encourage more companies to avoid the land bridge where possible and ship direct to our biggest market which is, of course, the continental EU. How is that being developed through the appointment of officials from IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, Bord Bia or Tourism Ireland within Irish embassies to help us grow our footprint in continental European markets and other markets we approach through European trade deals?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy. He is absolutely right regarding diversification. If one goes back 100 years, 50 years or even 40 years, Ireland was almost entirely dependent on Britain for trade and foreign currency. It is never a good thing for a country to be too dependent on another country, particularly a large neighbour if it has one. For several decades, our industrial and enterprise policies have been about diversification and making sure all our eggs have not been in the one basket. That has stood to us. The fact that Brexit has not had as negative an impact on the economy as it might have had is down to the fact that we have so much trade with the US and the eurozone. We want to increase our trade with areas beyond the eurozone, such as the Middle East, Japan and south-east Asia.

Enterprise Ireland is expanding and IDA Ireland is expanding our offices around the world, appointing new enterprise people to embassies around the world and opening new embassies, as the Deputy will be aware. We have seen a real improvement in the number of options for exporters and importers. The number of direct routes now available to continental Europe is extraordinary and they are very much being used.

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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That is an interesting point in respect of the growth of EI and IDA Ireland offices and how important that is terms of having boots on the ground. Although more difficult in Covid times, trade missions are of great importance. What appetite is there for virtual trade missions in 2022 as well as in person missions where feasible?

The second point I wish to make relates to maximising talent and labour. We speak a lot about encouraging Irish students to go into apprenticeships and other things but it is important to also consider maximising the pool of talent arising from freedom of movement within the Single Market. What efforts are being made to consider potential workers who may be coming out of third level in France, Romania or elsewhere in the EU and have the necessary skills to be HGV drivers and so on? I would appreciate it if the Tánaiste could elaborate a little on the all-island dynamic in terms of attracting FDI and what, if any, co-operation that involves with the Northern Ireland Executive.

John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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The Tánaiste has a minute to deal with all that.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I will cover some of it anyway. I very much agree with the Deputy's remarks in respect of boots on the ground. There is no substitution for having boots on the ground or personal contact. It has to happen. Virtual engagement is great, but it is no substitute for individual personal contact and having boots on the ground. We are doing exactly that - increasing our embassies, embassy staff, counsuls and agency staff on the ground, not just through Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland which fall under my remit, but also through Bord Bia, for example, and Tourism Ireland. It is making a difference.

Trade missions are a big part of what we do. Having been on several of them, the Deputy knows what difference they make. It is almost like endorsing companies in many parts of the world. If a company is on a trade mission with the Government, that is seen as an endorsement that it is a good company and can be believed. It also gives companies access to meetings at a level they would not get if they were not part of the trade mission and maybe the Minister was not in the room. I wish we could do more of them. I only managed to get two done last year because of the restrictions. The Minister of State, Deputy Troy, did several of them. We are hoping that Omicron will not put paid to trade missions because we would like to do quite a lot of them next year, if possible.