Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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222. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of applications received to date for the Brexit loan scheme for food businesses by company size (details supplied); the number of applications approved and not approved, respectively, to date by firm size; and the number of loans granted to date. [3693/19]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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The €300 million Brexit Loan Scheme was designed, in cooperation with DBEI and the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI), to provide working capital support to enable eligible Irish businesses to implement necessary changes to address the challenges posed by Brexit. The Scheme opened for applications on 28 March, 2018 and it will remain open until 31st March 2020.

It provides for loans of €25,000 to €1,500,000 per eligible enterprise at a maximum interest rate of 4%, ranging from 1 year to 3 years, with unsecured loans up to €500,000. The loans can be used for future working capital requirements or to fund innovation, change or adaptation of the business to mitigate the impact of Brexit.

Applications for eligibility assessment must be made to the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI) who on approval will assign an eligibility reference number. This reference number along with the loan application may then be provided to the business's preferred participating lender.

The number of eligibility applications received by SBCI to close of business on 21 January for the Brexit Loan Scheme for food businesses by company size is shown below:

As at close of business on 21 January there have been a total of 376 eligibility applications received, including food business figures shown above, of which 337 eligibility applications have been approved and 7 are ineligible, as shown in the following table:

The total number of loans progressed to sanction at bank level as at close of business on 21 January is 65 to a value of €14.9m, eight of which relate to food businesses with a total value of €3.6m.