Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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307. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if she will address a matter (details supplied) regarding Brexit supports. [32114/18]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Local Enterprise Offices promote awareness of the challenges of Brexit, and encourage businesses to consider its implications, through local events (including jointly with other entities), through their local websites (where clients can complete the Brexit Scorecard) and through Social Media.

For example, the LEOs have collaborated with Enterprise Ireland, InterTrade Ireland and other local entities (eg Banks, Chambers of Commerce etc) in promoting awareness of the implications and the supports available to meet the Brexit challenge.

The suite of LEO Brexit supports available to micro and small businesses through the 31 LEOs nationwide include:

Access to Enterprise Ireland’s ‘Brexit SME Scorecard’ online tool where micro and smaller businesses can self-diagnose their readiness for Brexit;

Tailored mentoring to address Brexit related business challenges. The number of persons that have availed of Brexit related mentoring from 1st  June 2017 to 31stMarch 2018 is 708;

A ‘Technical Assistance for  Micro-enterprises’ (TAME) grant designed to support qualifying businesses to diversify into new markets, enabling companies to explore and develop new market opportunities. 289 projects were approved for the TAME grant in 2017;

Rollout of ‘Lean for Micro’ nationwide which will make small businesses more efficient and competitive;

Training including on specific Brexit challenges, e.g. financial aspects and capability building in innovation, competitiveness and opportunity diagnosis. The total number of trainingparticipants in 2017 was 30,373.

In addition, the LEOs can offer training and mentoring, advice and guidance to assist businesses that are impacted by Brexit either directly or indirectly.

The Table below shows the total number of mentoring supports provided by the LEOs, the numbers of Brexit-specific mentoring assignments, the number of assignments with a Brexit element and the number of participants attending group training or mentoring events related to Brexit.

By and large, the experience at this stage is that clients are tending to seek group events so as to share views on the implications of Brexit rather than one-to-one mentoring support.

In a lot of cases the general mentoring or training supports will cover topics such as internationalisation or competitiveness which go wider than the immediate or direct Brexit impact.

The variation in the numbers across LEOs can be explained by the mix of clients and sectors, whether the client is seeking financial support, mentoring/training or advice and guidance, whether the LEO has held dedicated Brexit mentoring sessions and whether that support can best be offered directly by the LEO or by way of referral to another agency or body.

Details of the LEO Brexit Related Mentoring are attached in the table overleaf.

LEO Brexit Related Mentoring from 1st June 2017 – 31stMarch 2018

Data in respect of the next quarter is currently being compiled.