Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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39. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if her Department and the agencies under her remit have ongoing contact with their counterparts in Northern Ireland for the protection of business and employment in the Border region, both North and South, due to the uncertainties that have arisen due to Brexit; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11232/19]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Minimising the impact of Brexit on cross-border trade and employment is a key priority for the Government. We are doing our utmost to protect the interests of those companies that are engaged in business activities on both sides of the border.

InterTradeIreland (ITI) – one of the six North/South Implementation Bodies established under the Good Friday Agreement – is jointly funded by my Department and its counterpart in Northern Ireland, the Department for the Economy (DFE). Given its mandate to develop North South Trade, ITI is particularly well-placed to assist businesses in preparing for the challenges associated with Brexit, and officials in my Department are in regular contact with their DFE counterparts to ensure the body is supported and equipped to carry out this important work. My Department provided an additional €1 million to ITI this year, which will enable the body to engage with more companies seeking support through its Brexit Advisory Service, as well as meeting demand for existing programmes which are all designed to promote and support cross-border trade.

Enterprise Ireland (EI) have a longstanding collaboration with their equivalent agency in Northern Ireland, Invest Northern Ireland (INI). There is regular contact between the two agencies on a range of policies and initiatives that support business and employment in the two jurisdictions. Over the past two years there has been more specific contact and cooperation on Brexit supports. In addition, EI, INI and ITI meet regularly to facilitate inter-agency coordination and cooperation.

IDA Ireland and INI, meanwhile, are competitors for foreign direct investment, which therefore makes practical opportunities for ongoing cooperation more limited. However, the two bodies do cooperate with another in the context of regional and all-island economic development.

More broadly, the Government is focused on maintaining mutually beneficial relationships on enterprise development and trade with our counterparts in Northern Ireland. We continue to work towards an outcome that will maintain the closest and most positive possible trading relationship between the UK and Ireland following Brexit.

John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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40. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the uptake of all Brexit supports under the remit of her Department; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10955/19]

Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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49. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the take-up of Brexit preparedness courses, materials, grants and information to date in quarter 1 of 2019; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11164/19]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 40 and 49 together.

Brexit represents a significant challenge for businesses in Ireland, which cannot be underestimated. That’s why my Department started developing supports for businesses from the time when Brexit first became a possibility. Government’s priority is to ensure that businesses around the country can manage risks and avail of any opportunities. This has informed the range of advisory and financial supports that are in place.

The €300 million Brexit Loan Scheme launched last year is open to eligible businesses of up to 499 employees which have been demonstrably impacted by Brexit, or which will be in the future. The Brexit Loan Scheme provides working capital funding to businesses to innovate, change or adapt in response to Brexit-related challenges. Loan amounts range from €25,000 up to €1.5 million, for terms of up to three years and at a maximum interest rate of 4%. Loans of up to €500,000 are available unsecured. This may be useful for businesses whose cashflow has already been impacted by Brexit.

Beyond this, my Department and its agencies are fully engaged in preparing Irish businesses for Brexit and have participated in the Government of Ireland’s series of Getting Ireland Brexit Ready events in Cork, Galway, Monaghan, Dublin, Limerick and Donegal. As part of awareness-raising activities, Enterprise Ireland continues to roll out regional Brexit Advisory clinics. To date, these clinics have been held in Letterkenny, Tralee, Portlaoise, Claremorris, Cootehill, Charleville, Dublin, Galway, Dundalk, Waterford and Limerick. Further events are planned in Galway, Cork, Letterkenny and Dublin ahead of the withdrawal date.

EI has also been running a PrepareforBrexit communications campaign, featuring the Brexit SME Scorecard and the PrepareforBrexit.ie website, which offers information on the likely impacts of Brexit on Irish businesses and how these impacts might be mitigated. The Brexit SME Scorecard is an interactive online platform that can be used by all Irish businesses to self-assess their exposure to Brexit.

Funding to the Local Enterprise Offices has been increased by 22% and they, along with InterTradeIreland, are offering a range of Brexit-focused supports to companies, including those engaged in cross-border trade with Northern Ireland. InterTradeIreland continues to offer its Brexit: Start to Plan voucher scheme, which makes available financial support of up to €2,250 towards professional advisory services to address Brexit-related challenges.

The LEOs offer Brexit supports to micro and small businesses through the 31 LEOs nationwide, including tailored mentoring to address Brexit-related business challenges, and targeted training on specific Brexit challenges.

The InterTradeIreland Brexit Advisory Service provides a focal point for SMEs working to navigate any changes in cross-border trading relationships arising as a result of Brexit. As part of the service, ITI has organised a series of awareness events focused on improving knowledge of customs processes and procedures and identifying actions that can be taken in areas such as logistics and supply chain management.

ITI also offers a Brexit Start to Plan voucher scheme, which enables businesses to get professional advice on how best to plan and prepare for the UK's withdrawal from the European Union. This support helps businesses obtain advice on specific areas such as tariffs, currency management, regulatory and customs issues and movement of labour, goods and services. ITI vouchers are worth up to €2,250 (inclusive of VAT) each. Companies are finding the vouchers very useful and there has been strong demand which can be attributed to the media campaign conducted by ITI across a range of platforms. ITI have just launched a further financial support - £5,000 in matched funding which will support companies in implementing a change identified in their Brexit action plan.

While I have seen a very positive uptake of the supports available, not everyone is engaging. With Brexit around the corner, I want businesses, particularly those around the Border counties to know my Department and agencies are here to help. My Department and its agencies are providing extensive supports, schemes and advice to ensure that businesses are prepared for Brexit.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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41. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the level of state aid that will be made available in the event of a no-deal hard Brexit; the provision provided for same in the Revised Estimates; if she has sought permission from the European Commission for aid to specific sectors; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10636/19]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Across Government Departments significant work is ongoing to ensure all necessary supports will be available to enterprise regarding a wide variety of Brexit implications. Provision in the revised estimates for financial support is a matter for my colleague the Minister for Finance.

In relation to State aid, my Department and its agencies have been working closely with the EU Commission and DG Competition since November 2017 through the Irish/EU Technical Working Group on State aid. The objective of the Group is to scope and design schemes to support enterprises across various sectors, impacted by Brexit in line with State Aid rules. Much has been achieved by this Working Group. It has examined and explored a range of opportunities within State Aid rules including the development of the Future Growth Loan Scheme under GBER rules, and the expansion of Ireland’s Rescue and Restructuring Scheme to include Temporary liquidity aid, and to increase the budget for the Rescue & Restructuring Scheme to €200 million. Through the mechanism of the Technical Working Group Ireland has fully utilised the provisions of the State aid framework to enable the investment by Enterprise Ireland of €74 million in Brexit impacted businesses in 2018.

The Group is currently working closely with DG Agriculture to explore the range of opportunities under the Agriculture and Forestry State aid guidelines, and as part of this State Aid approval was received in February for capital investment by Enterprise Ireland in an Irish cheese producing company, Carbery Food Ingredients Ltd, to help the company towards financing a dairy diversification project to mitigate the impacts of Brexit. The Group met most recently in Brussels at the end of February last to review progress on a range of initiatives.

On 24th January 2019, I met with the European Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager. The focus of the meeting centred around the severe challenges that Irish businesses will face when the UK leaves the EU and the need for appropriate and timely State supports. It was agreed that Irish officials will continue to work closely with the Commissioner's team in addressing any State aid issues that may arise to ensure a rapid and appropriate response as the ultimate shape of Brexit and its firm-level implication become known. The Commissioner emphasised that the Commission stands ready to act urgently in mitigation against the impacts of Brexit on Irish firms