Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein)
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540. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of businesses that have availed of the be prepared grant to date; the estimated spend in 2018 and 2019 for the grant; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36310/18]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Brexit presents the most significant economic challenge of the past 50 years, and it is important that we prepare for any long-term structural and disruptive change that may emerge.  Being prepared is crucial to ensure resilience to emerging challenges.  

To promote awareness, and supported by a national Prepare For Brexit campaign, Enterprise Ireland designed and launched a €5k Be Prepared Grant that supports the costs of SME clients in preparing a plan to mitigate risks and optimise opportunities arising from Brexit. To date, 127 Be Prepared Grants have been approved to Enterprise Ireland client companies.

In 2018 Enterprise Ireland has approved in excess of €210,000 under the Be Prepared Grant. Currently there is a strong demand pipeline for this support and Enterprise Ireland estimates that  €280,000 will be approved by year end. Companies approved funding under this support have 6 months from date of approval to drawdown funding. Enterprise Ireland is not in a position to comment on budgets for 2019 at this time.

Enterprise Ireland supports for enterprise are demand led, and I am confident that sufficient budgetary resources have been made available to EI to support all companies who are eligible for the grant. EI is actively promoting the suite of supports available to client companies to ensure that companies are prepared for Brexit. These include:

- The Brexit SME Scorecard, an interactive online platform which can be used by all Irish companies to self-assess their exposure to Brexit under six business pillars.

- The Act On Programme which provides an independent consultant to companies for a course of two half day to assist them decide on specific actions to address some of the risks and opportunities from Brexit.

- The Strategic Consultancy Grant supports the hiring of a strategic consultant typically to assist the company in the development and/or the implementation of strategic initiatives. It is designed to facilitate business growth as the consultants can act as coach, mentor, facilitator, analyst for the company.

- The Market Discovery Fund specifically supports companies in their market diversification plans. The grant aims to incentivise companies to research viable and sustainable market entry strategies.

- The Agile Innovation Fund has been developed to support product, service and process innovation to build competitive advantage.

- Regional Brexit Roadshows to increase the awareness of Brexit amongst companies.

I am committed to ensuring that there is a wide range of supports, including but not solely the above, offered by my Department and its agencies to help support businesses prepare for Brexit.

Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein)
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541. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of businesses that have availed of the market discovery fund to date; the estimated spend in 2018 and 2019, for the market discovery fund; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36311/18]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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A key strategy for Irish companies to withstand current global economic challenges is to diversify their export footprint. Enterprise Ireland launched the Market Discovery Fund in January 2018 with the aim of encouraging companies to expand into new markets by helping with the costs of researching viable and sustainable market entry strategies.

The Fund provides support towards both internal and external costs incurred by companies when researching new markets for products and services. Eligible companies can receive support when they are looking at a new geographic market for an existing product/service, or when looking at exporting a new product/service to a market that they already do business in.

The Market Discovery Fund is available across three levels:

- Level 1: Grant up to €35K

- Level 2: Grant greater than €35K but less than €75K

- Level 3: Grant greater than €75K but less than €150K

The maximum funding is 50% of eligible expenditure up to a maximum grant of €150,000. Eligible expenditure includes, but is not limited to, salary support, consultancy costs, trade fair costs and foreign travel.

The Market Discovery Fund has now been open for applications for a number of months and to date, 88 Market Discovery Grants have been approved by Enterprise Ireland. Since the launch of the Market Discovery Grant, EI has approved in excess of €2 million under this initiative. Currently there is a strong demand pipeline for this support and Enterprise Ireland estimates that €4 - 5 million will be approved by year end. Companies approved funding under this support have 18 months to drawdown approved funding. Enterprise Ireland is not in a position to comment on budgets for 2019 at this time.

Enterprise Ireland supports for enterprise are demand led, and I am confident that sufficient budgetary resources have been made available to EI to support all companies who are eligible for the grant. EI is actively promoting the suite of supports available to client companies to ensure that companies are prepared for Brexit.

It should be noted that the Market Discovery Fund is only one of a wide range of supports offered by my Department and its Agencies to help businesses prepare for Brexit.