Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein)
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514. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of businesses that have availed of the market discovery fund to date; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1210/19]

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 (EI) 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. Since then, 208 Market Discovery Grants have been approved by EI.

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.

EI is actively promoting the suite of supports available to client companies to ensure that they are prepared for Brexit.

The Market Discovery Fund is only one of a wide range of supports offered by my Department and its agencies to help support businesses prepare for Brexit. In 2018, EI approved funding of €74m for 535 of its most Brexit-exposed clients with exports to the UK of greater than 20%, or an average of €140,000 per company to support their business growth in the context of Brexit.