Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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158. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation her plans to protect SMEs along the Border region which are most exposed to the impacts of Brexit. [5763/18]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I am very conscious of the challenges as a result of Brexit faced by SMEs operating in close proximity to the border. My Department has been working with the Department of Finance, Enterprise Ireland (EI) and Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI) and others to develop potential supports to respond to the needs of businesses impacted by Brexit. The Brexit Loan Scheme, announced during Budget 2018, will provide affordable working capital financing to eligible Irish businesses that are either currently impacted by Brexit, or which will be in the future. The Scheme will be delivered by the SBCI through commercial lenders to get much needed working capital into Irish businesses. The Scheme aims to make up to €300 million available to SMEs and Small Mid Caps Funds. The Scheme will be open to businesses of up to 499 employees, which can also demonstrate that they are significantly exposed to the impact (or potential impact) of Brexit. They must be a viable business, doing business in Ireland, and they must have a business development strategy. The Scheme is expected to open for applications in late March 2018, and will run until 31 March 2020.

EI offers a range of activities and supports to companies, including along the Border Region, to innovate and remain competitive in international markets. Activities currently being undertaken by EI to ensure that client companies are resilient and agile include the following:

- EI is actively working with companies with global ambition to internationalise, and in doing so, diversify their global footprint. To support this, on 1 February Enterprise Ireland launched a new Market Discovery Fund to incentivise companies to research viable and sustainable market entry strategies in new geographic markets. This fund provides support towards internal and external costs incurred when researching new markets for products and services.

- EI is working with its clients in the Border Region to drive innovation activity via supports that enable companies to diagnose their innovation readiness, provides financial support for in-house R&D projects and fosters collaborations.

- EI is working with companies to identify competitiveness issues and to support companies by providing access to a range of competitiveness building tools, including the Company Competitiveness Health Check, the Lean Offer and Green Offer.

In addition, Enterprise Ireland provides supports to assist companies, such as those located in the Border Region, to be aware and to for prepare for Brexit, for example:

- Launched a ‘Brexit SME Scorecard’, a new interactive online platform which can be used by all Irish companies to self-assess their exposure to Brexit under six business pillars.

- Launched a Be Prepared Grant that supports the costs of SME clients in preparing a plan to mitigate risks and optimise opportunities arising from Brexit. This grant can be used to help cover consultancy, travel and out of pocket expenses associated with researching the direction of their Brexit action plan.

- Ran a national Prepare for Brexit Breakfast Roadshows and is currently engaging with companies throughout the country on preparing for Brexit.

- Launched the in-market Irish Advantage campaign promoting Irish companies to buyers in key markets and sectors.

An extra €4 million in funding for the 31 Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) in 2017 was allocated to fund a range of initiatives including Brexit supports across the country. These supports are aimed at strengthening the capacity of micro and small businesses to cope with the changing external environment, especially the impacts arising from Brexit. The supports include grants to assist LEO clients in diversifying their markets, targeted training and mentoring to address Brexit-related challenges and opportunities, as well as a Lean for Micro programme to help micro-enterprises to address competitive issues within their businesses by building the capability of their employees to identify problems and improve operations. The six LEOs in the Border region are also working together with their Northern Ireland counterparts under the EU Co-Innovate Programme.

I am conscious that further efforts are needed to ensure that companies in the Border Region are resilient to economic shocks, such as Brexit. To this end, I am committed to ensuring that Enterprise Ireland and the LEOs will continue to work with companies from the region to drive their innovation, competitiveness, internationalisation and Brexit preparedness.