Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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413. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if she will provide an overview of Enterprise Ireland’s Prepare For Brexit campaign; and the annual budget allocated in each year since the campaign was established. [12744/18]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Enterprise Ireland’s Strategy 2017-2020 represents a strategic response to Brexit aiming to grow more resilient Irish companies by building scale and expanding reach. To support its Strategy, my Department provided for additional capital monies in 2017 to enable EI implement a variety of initiatives and ramp up its supports to drive improvements in productivity, innovation, management capability and leadership skills, and to build the ambition of managers to look to other markets around the world.

Enterprise Ireland’s exchequer pay provision for 2017 included an additional €1.7 million to assist in the recruitment of an additional 39 Brexit specific posts.A further additional €3 million in Pay was secured by the Department in "Budget 2018" for this year to further assist with our Brexit response. Of this, Enterprise Ireland is being provided with an additional €1.3 million current funding to recruit additional Brexit related staff. This should enable EI to recruit approximately 18 additional staff during 2018.

In addition, Enterprise Ireland was provided with a €7m increase in capital monies to support a range of Brexit and enterprise development initiatives in 2017. This additional €7m was retained for the 2018 budget allocation.

As part of Enterprise Ireland’s strategic response to Brexit, several new initiatives were rolled out during 2017, including;

Feb - Global Ambition Campaign launched to get more companies exporting and encourage companies to enter Eurozone;

Mar - Launch of 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.

Mar - A €5k “Be Prepared Grant” was also introduced that supports the costs of SME clients in preparing a plan to mitigate risks and optimise opportunities arising from Brexit;

Apr -Launch of new ‘PrepareforBrexit’ communications campaign to highlight action required by companies;

May -Launch of New Eurozone Strategy to increase exports to the Eurozone by 50%;

June - Prepare for Brexit Roadshows were rolled out nationally to engage with companies;

Sept - International Markets Week which included a Brexit Zone, and the #Irish Advantage Campaign was launched which will target Eurozone buyers to buy Irish innovation in key Brexit impacted sectors;

Nov - Launch of a fast track Agile Innovation Fund with a streamlined online application to give companies rapid access to innovation funding.

During 2017, EI also organised over 140 trade promotion events to help clients to maintain and grow the UK market and to find new markets outside of the UK.

Alongside the continuation of the Be Prepared Grant, EI will roll out their “Act On Programme” in 2018, which will provide an independent consultant to companies for a course of two half day sessions focusing on (1) Financial and Currency Management (2) Strategic Sourcing and (3) Customs and Logistics. This initiative will assist companies decide on specific actions over a short period to address some of the risks and opportunities from Brexit.

To date 86 companies have availed of the Brexit Be Prepared Grant. Enterprise Ireland’s Be Prepared Grant offers SMEs a grant of up to €5,000 to assist them in preparing an action plan for economic shocks, such as Brexit. The grant can be used to help cover consultancy, travel and travel expenses associated with researching the direction of their action plan. Enterprise Ireland is committed to processing all applications for the grant within eighteen days.

For example, this might involve investigating the feasibility of diversifying into new markets and market segments; investment in innovation; improvement in operational competitiveness; and/or enhancement of strategic financial capability.

To date 2,100 companies have availed of the Brexit Scorecard. EI has introduced a number of Brexit specific programmes to help Irish companies remain resilient in the face of uncertainty. One of these measures is an online “Brexit SME Scorecard” to help all Irish businesses self-assess their exposure to Brexit. The Scorecard generates a report on weak areas and suggests some initial next steps.