Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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313. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation her plans to expand the LEOs in the Border region with a possibility of a hard Brexit; if a LEO for Drogheda and east County Meath to assist the largest town here deal with the effects of a possible Brexit scenario will be funded; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41776/19]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) are the ‘first-stop-shop’ for advice and guidance, financial assistance and other supports for anyone intending to start or grow a business.

The Local Enterprise Offices are the primary providers of supports to assist micro-enterprises within the indigenous sector that are facing challenges arising from Brexit. My Department, through the LEOs, has continued to promote the importance of local businesses preparing for Brexit, and has developed a range of supports to help them do so. The LEOs are working vigorously to enable companies to consolidate market share within the UK and to become more resilient by broadening their sales to other international markets.

LEO clients based in the Drogheda area can access LEO grants and supports in the same manner and subject to the same decision criteria as applicants in the rest of the county. This applies equally to clients for East Meath relative to other areas of County Meath.

I can assure the Deputy that LEO Louth is deeply committed to ensuring they grow a strong spirit of enterprise in Drogheda, and that businesses there are supported fully and on the same basis as firms throughout Louth and the rest of the country. Notwithstanding that the offices of LEO Louth are located in the County Council Offices in Dundalk, the full range of programmes and activities that it delivers are dispersed evenly throughout the county. Similarly, LEO Meath provides the same offerings throughout the County including the Laytown/Bettystown Municipal District having numerous mentor assignments and training programmes for LEO clients based in East Meath.

Furthermore, I was pleased to announce as part of Budget 2020 that in the event of a hard Brexit I will launch a number of new Brexit supports to further strengthen the capacity of our microenterprise sector. Specifically, I announced two related measures to support vulnerable but viable business in the face of Brexit by way of increasing the cap on lending from MicroFinance Ireland to €50,000 and the provision of repayable grants through the Local Enterprise Offices.

In addition, the Minister for Finance announced in Budget 2020 improvements to the Research and Development Tax credit for small and micro firms, which will enable them to claim a higher rate of credit of 30% and they will have improved options with regards to claiming the payable credit. These firms will also be able to claim the credit for expenditure incurred in advance of commencing to trade

This improved support should be considered in the context of existing LEO supports which include the following. 

- The Brexit Mentor Programmewas developed for businesses to work with an experienced mentor on a one-to-one basis to identify key areas of exposure within their business.  With advice and guidance from their mentor, businesses develop strategies that are more robust, which address issues and maximise potential opportunities around Brexit. 

- Prepare Your Business for Customsis a one-day interactive workshop, run regionally by Local Enterprise Offices, which provides businesses with a better understanding of the potential impacts, formalities and procedures to be adopted when trading with a country which is outside the Single Market and Custom Unions. Open to all businesses, these workshops cover areas such as what export and import procedures apply, how tariffs work and how to correctly classify goods.

- LEAN for Microis a targeted programme for Local Enterprise Office clients to help small businesses boost competitiveness, increase performance and profitability as well as building resilience within their companies.

- The Technical Assistance for Micro-Exporters (TAME)Grant supports clients to explore and develop new export market opportunities, such as participation in international trade fairs and development of export related marketing and websites. With a focus on helping companies to diversify, this scheme is a match-funding opportunity with up to €2,500 available.

I note that you have enquired about funding for a new LEO to cover the Drogheda and East Meath region. You will be aware that when the LEO network was established in 2014, there was a LEO in each of the 31 Local Authorities and this has been the model used ever since. This model, in operation for over 5 years, has been the platform for ongoing and incremental success in terms of engagement with client companies and strong jobs growth. I am pleased to say that in general there has been strong and meaningful engagement throughout 2019 from the microenterprise sector with the LEO network and in particular the LEO Brexit offering.

I am confident therefore that in the days and weeks ahead, the LEO network will continue its robust and meaningful engagement with its many clients and will remain an integral component in this Government’s toolkit to prepare our microenterprise sector to face any challenge that comes its way as a result of Brexit, whatever form that may take.