Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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59. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation her views on the policy proposals in the latest publication by an organisation (details supplied) regarding protecting businesses from a hard Brexit; and if the Government is considering implementing these suggestions including an agreement at EU level for revision of state aid rules. [29400/17]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I welcome the fact that many representative organisations have published papers identifying challenges for their sectors. This is important as it ensures that Government is better placed to put appropriate policy responses in place. This particular publication from Ibec is a valuable contribution to our knowledge base and will help to inform the development of policy responses.

A number of other useful studies have already been published which set out the potential impacts of Brexit, including sectoral assessments (e.g. tourism, agri-food), and many of these are listed on merrionstreet.ie website.

From my Department’s perspective:

- We recently published the findings of a survey of 1,045 SME business owners and have set out a number of actions being developed to support SMEs in responding to the challenges of Brexit.

- My Department funded a recently published research project by the ESRI undertaken in close cooperation with InterTrade Ireland to improve our understanding of the impact on cross border trade of different trade and tariff regimes which might be imposed following Brexit.

- My Department is also currently undertaking research to examine the implications for the most exposed enterprise sectors - in terms of trading and economic relationships - of the UK being outside of the European Single Market and Customs Union. This research will inform an assessment of the way in which Brexit will affect individual sectors of the economy.

- In addition we are profiling the composition of trade and investment for Ireland and a range of EU Member States with the UK - this will provide an evidence base to inform Ireland's policy positions as part of the wider negotiation on the UK's future relationship with the EU.

It remains important that Government consults widely and extensively as negotiations progress.

Since the Referendum, in my role as Tánaiste I have engaged with stakeholders, listening to their views about challenges and opportunities particularly in the context of Brexit. I am aware of the range and depth of issues facing Irish business in light of the decision of our largest trading partner to leave the European Union.

As Minister for Enterprise and Innovation, I look forward to engaging with a wide range of representative organisations to ensure that the potential impact of Brexit at a sectoral and regional level is understood and used to inform Ireland’s policy response. In the coming weeks, I will be meeting representatives from across the business community to hear first-hand the issues facing enterprise in this country. The impact of Brexit will be a key focus of these discussions.

More immediately, I will be participating in the National Economic Dialogue in the coming days and will take the opportunity to discuss with all participants the challenges, mitigation measures and opportunities that Brexit raises.

This will build on the work my officials have already undertaken to ensure the Government’s Brexit preparations take account of the issues facing businesses, entrepreneurs and innovators.

Earlier this year, my Department held a large stakeholder engagement event in Carrick-on-Shannon on 30^thJanuary to hear the views of all stakeholders.  I look forward to co-hosting with Minister Bruton, a similar event which will focus on assessing and responding to the impact of Brexit on Skills on the 3^rdJuly.

I am keen that the Department continues to engage in in-depth and frequent dialogue with our stakeholders on a range of policy areas which fall within our remit.

In this regard, the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Enterprise Forum on Brexit and Global Challenges is an effective tool for ensuring open, two-way communication between Government and the enterprise community, and provides a vehicle for discussion of enterprise, trade and investment policy implications arising from wider global challenges, with a specific focus on Brexit in the first instance.

In relation to supporting our enterprises, my department has been working with the Department of Finance, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Enterprise Ireland and the SBCI to build an understanding of the business needs of companies in adapting to the challenges posed by Brexit and to develop appropriate and targeted responses to support them.

Based on this work, we are progressing the development of a proposed Brexit Working Capital Guarantee Scheme and we are scoping out the need for a longer term Business Development Loan Scheme which would assist firms in investing for a post-Brexit environment. Development of these proposed responses is at an early stage, and is subject to resources being agreed as part of the annual budget process.

These measures are being considered in the context of existing State Aid rules leveraging support from EU sources such as the EIF.

As the situation evolves, and we get a better idea of impacts on enterprise in a post Brexit landscape, we will almost certainly need to have further discussions with the Commission in order to ensure that we take sufficient measures in good time to ensure that our most exposed and impacted companies and sectors do not suffer irreparable damage, resulting in significant job losses, as a result of the UK’s decision to leave the EU.