Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 15:

In page 17, after line 37, to insert the following:“Review of Brexit Business Supports

9.(1) The Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation may undertake a review of the current Brexit business supports, including but not limited to:

(a) the Brexit Loan Scheme;

(b) the Enterprise Ireland Market Discovery Fund;

(c) the Enterprise Ireland Be Prepared Grant;

(d) the Enterprise Ireland Brexit Act On Initiative;

(e) the Enterprise Ireland Agile Innovation Fund; and

(f) the InterTradeIreland Brexit Start to Plan Voucher schemes.

(2) This review will include, but not be limited to; examining why there has been such a low uptake of these Brexit business supports to date, identify barriers for businesses accessing these supports and offer solutions on how to make it easier for businesses to benefit from these supports.

(3) The Minister will send the findings of this review to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Business, Enterprise and Innovation within two months of the enactment of this Act.”.

These amendments are to encourage the State to examine using the treaty exceptions for state aid to allow for more investment in certain sectors and industries where necessary. It means arguing for the globalisation fund to be recalibrated to fight off the shock of Brexit in industries such as the mushroom sector before and not just after those industries are hit. The fiscal rules and their inbuilt austerity logic must be challenged now more than ever. The EU cannot say it will protect Ireland in its words and then tell us that we cannot protect ourselves through these rules. There are other areas such as Structural Funds where we need to make a case for more flexibility, for example, greater co-financing. We should be saying that we need to be pushed to the front of the queue for the EU transport and infrastructure projects. That is what fighting for Ireland would look like. The issue of the green card for motor insurance is probably the most visible and worrying aspect of what life might look like for those living near the Border in a no-deal Brexit situation. Under Article 8(2) of the EU motor insurance directive, the EU can give a waiver to Britain and the North to ensure there is no need for insurance green cards. It did that for other countries, including Serbia in 2011.

The Minister, Deputy Ross, should have been pushing this at EU level. Instead, he washed his hands of it and no arrangement is in place. My colleague, Deputy Munster, was blue in the face questioning him at the Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport and on the floor of the Dáil and he had very little information on it. He could not tell what interventions he had made with the EU and Britain to ensure that there was an agreement in place ahead of Brexit. This should have been done and dusted by now if he had bothered to do his job. He simply does not understand the sensitivities of the issue for people on the Border, including people going to work every day, farmers accessing their own land, families visiting one another and tourists. Many people will not accept that they will have to carry a green card for these purposes. Others are completely confused as to the situation. On an issue as important as this, the Minister, Deputy Ross, saw fit to abuse and insult a colleague of mine in the other House. That was unacceptable. The Minister, Deputy Ross, needs to do his job. If he still refuses to do so, then this amendment, if agreed to, mandates the Government to ensure that the necessary work is done. Sinn Féin is clear that something concrete needs to be done. It is up to the Minister, Deputy Coveney, to accept our amendment or else explain to the hundreds of thousands of people who will be affected by this why he allowed a Cabinet colleague to sit on his hands and allow a mess like this to happen. It is the Minister's choice.