Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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368. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the costing of the development of further loan schemes for the agrifood sector and funding for Bord Bia promotion and development work in the context of Brexit in budget 2018. [50924/17]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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I believe that supporting lower-cost, flexible finance is a key Government response to Brexit. The very successful “Agriculture Cashflow Loan Scheme” has provided a template for such schemes, including the new “Brexit Loan Scheme”, which makes up to €300 million of affordable, flexible financing available to Irish businesses that are either currently impacted by Brexit or who will be in the future.

This fund will be supported by €23 million in exchequer funding, with €9 million from my Department and the remainder from the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation, by way of guarantee. At least 40% of this fund will be available to food businesses. The new Scheme will be delivered by the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI) through commercial lenders. SBCI issued an open call on 21 November inviting lending institutions to participate.

I also announced in the Budget that I have secured funding of €25 million for my Department to facilitate the development of new Brexit response loan schemes during 2018 for farmers, fishermen and food businesses. My Department has had preliminary engagement with the SBCI in this regard and further details will be available in 2018.

Since the Brexit decision, my Department has placed great emphasis on enhancing its own capacity and that of Bord Bia’s in the area of market diversification and new market access.  Following on from the extra €10 million that I allocated to Bord Bia since the Brexit vote, I will be providing an additional €4.5 million in Budget 2018 to assist the agency in its promotional and developmental work overseas.

Furthermore, my Department is working with the Department of An Taoiseach and other Government Departments on the expansion of the State’s Global footprint, to ensure that the future development of the Irish agri-food sector is incorporated into this strategy.