Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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125. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will report on his regional meetings on Brexit; if he is satisfied with the uptake on the various schemes being provided to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41952/18]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Since my appointment as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade in June 2017 I have overseen and co-ordinated a sustained intensification of Brexit preparedness and contingency planning across Government.

As part of these efforts, the Government is organising “Getting Ireland Brexit Ready” public information events around Ireland to inform and advise about Brexit preparedness and the range of support measures and resources that the Government has put in place.

The first regional public event was held in Cork on Friday, 5 October, with last Friday’s event held in Galway. Two further events will take place over the coming weeks in Monaghan (19 October) and Dublin (25 October). To date these events have been very well attended with strong participation from the public and business communities.

These events bring together a dozen Agencies and their parent Departments – the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation, the Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine, and the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport - under one roof to inform and advise both citizens and businesses about Brexit preparedness and the range of support measures and resources the Government has put in place.

A suite of measures were introduced in Budget 2018 to support companies preparing for Brexit. Given that these schemes are ongoing, Departments with line responsibility for those schemes are best placed to provide updates on participation in those schemes.

In addition to the measures and supports introduced in Budget 2018, the Government introduced a range of Brexit Readiness measures in Budget 2019.

These measures will protect Ireland from the negative economic impact of Brexit and include the fund of a €2 billion Rainy Day Fund with €1.5bn from ISIF and €500m in 2019 capital funding, increased staffing across state agencies and key embassies, and a new €300m long-term Future Growth Loan Scheme partnership to provide 8-10 year loans between the Departments of Business, Enterprise and Innovation & Agriculture, Food and the Marine (which is in addition to Budget 2018’s €300m short-term SME loan scheme).