Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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448. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the uptake of all Brexit related supports under the remit of her Department in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5506/20]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Since the decision of the United Kingdom to leave the European Union, my Department and its agencies have worked to put a wide range of Brexit supports in place for businesses. The suite of enterprise and finance supports in place cover the spectrum of potential Brexit impacts and aims to assist businesses in identifying key risk areas and the practical preparatory actions to be taken.

The Government’s suite of Brexit supports includes preparedness vouchers, consultancy and mentoring supports, tariff advisory services, research on new markets and innovation supports through Enterprise Ireland, the Local Enterprise Offices and InterTradeIreland. Supports and advice are also available from the National Standards Authority of Ireland, the Health and Safety Authority, IDA Ireland, Revenue, Skillnet Ireland, the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland, Bord Bia and Fáilte Ireland.

Of my Department's suite of supports, the €300m Brexit Loan Schemeis designed to address working capital challenges brought about by Brexit. The Brexit Loan Scheme provides affordable working capital to eligible businesses with up to 499 employees that are or will be Brexit impacted and which meet the scheme criteria. The €23 million exchequer funding announced in the 2018 Budget (€14 million from my Department and €9 million from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine) has been leveraged through the European Investment Fund (EIF) InnovFin guarantee to provide a fund of up to €300 million over the lifetime of the scheme.

The scheme features a two-stage application process. First, businesses must apply to the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI) to confirm their eligibility for the scheme. The SBCI assesses the applications and successful applicants receive an eligibility reference number.

Successful applicants can then apply for a loan under the scheme with one of the participating finance providers using their eligibility reference number. Approval of loans is subject to the finance providers' own credit policies and procedures.

The Future Growth Loan Scheme (FGLS)was launched in April 2019 to provide for €300m in longer- term lending to SMEs, mid-caps and farmers. The scheme leverages €62 million of State funding (€37 million from DBEI and €25 million from DAFM) with a further €1 million payable in management fees to the European Investment Fund (which is part of the EIB Group). Based on the contribution by DAFM to the scheme, a target of 40% of total lending is geared to farmers and the food sector.

The FGLS is delivered by the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI) through participating finance providers. The SBCI provides an uncapped guarantee of 80% to the participating financial providers. The scheme is underpinned by a 64% counter-guarantee to the SBCI from the EIF. This counter-guarantee provides significant risk protection to the Exchequer against potential losses from the loan guarantee scheme.

The uptake of the scheme has significantly surpassed expectations, such that the initial €300m funding for the FGLS scheme has been almost fully subscribed, supporting a significant level of strategic investment by businesses. One of the participating financial providers lenders has remaining capacity and businesses seeking loan approval are being directed towards this lender.

On 8 April, I announced that this scheme would be expanded by a further €200m to facilitate longer-term lending to Covid-19-impacted businesses and my Department is working through the details of this expansion and will bring this funding to market as soon as possible.

TheLocal Enterprise Offices (LEOs)have organised workshops, seminars and training to assist companies to better understand the challenges of Brexit and have a range of supports to help clients to respond to those challenges, to become more competitive, and to source new markets.

The main Brexit supports available for micro and small companies available through the LEOs include:

- A ‘Technical Assistance for Micro-enterprises’ grantdesigned to support qualifying businesses to diversify into new markets, enabling companies to explore and develop new market opportunities.

- A ‘Lean for Micro’programme available nationwide to help small businesses become more efficient and competitive.

- Tailored mentoring to address Brexit related business challenges.

- Targeted training on specific Brexit challenges, including financial aspects and capability building in innovation, competitiveness and opportunity diagnosis.

- Provision of customs training workshopsin locations across the country

Notwithstanding the difficulty’s businesses are currently experiencing during the COVID-19 crisis, it is worth noting that businesses still recognise the importance of preparing for Brexit. However, the uptake of LEO Brexit Supports has seen a decline on last year’s figures since the intervention of COVID -19 as business are implementing new strategies on how to continue their business amidst public health concerns. Nationally and regionally, the 31 local LEO offices continue to provide information, advice and guidance.

Enterprise Irelandhas developed and launched a number of supports and initiatives to assist companies to navigate the challenges and opportunities posed by Brexit including the following:

- Brexit Scorecard:an interactive online platform which can be used by all Irish companies to self-assess their exposure to Brexit under six business pillars. 7,160Brexit Scorecards have been completed to date.

- Be Prepared Grant: designed for Enterprise Ireland clients who would benefit from further research and external expertise in examining their exposure to Brexit and exploring ways of addressing this. The grant supports the costs of SME clients up to €5k in preparing a plan to mitigate risks and optimise opportunities arising from Brexit. 251Be Prepared Grants have been approved to date.

- Act On Programme:has been developed to focus on three main areas of capability (1) Financial and Currency Management (2) Strategic Sourcing and (3) Customs and Logistics. This initiative will assist companies decide on specific actions over a short period to address some of the risks and opportunities from Brexit. 370 Act On plans have been completed to date.

- Market Discovery Fund: supports companies in their market diversification plans. The grant aims to incentivise companies to research viable and sustainable market entry strategies. 248 Companies have been approved under this initiative.

- Online Customs Insights course: aims to help businesses understand how customs works including the documentation and processes required to operate and succeed post-Brexit. There have been 2,012 Customs Insights Course participants to date.

- The Brexit Advisory Clinics took place nationwide providing information and practical support through individual meetings across the following areas; Strategic Sourcing, Financial & Currency Management and Customs Transport & Logistics.

- Clear Customs Financial Support: Enterprise Ireland administered the Clear Customs Financial Support to help address the costs of building customs processing capability within business. 214 companies have been approved support under this initiative.

InterTradeIreland provides a range of Brexit supports and advice through its Brexit Advisory Service. InterTradeIreland also offers two Brexit Vouchers. The first of these is a Brexit Planning voucher which provides 100% financial support towards professional advice to help Businesses identify Brexit exposures and to plan.

The second is a Brexit Implementation voucher, which provides financial support up to £5,000/€5,625 to allow businesses to implement critical changes, making them better prepared to deal with a new trading relationship post-Brexit. InterTradeIreland pays 50% of the cost of this voucher.

As well support through voucher funding, the Brexit Advisory Service also offer a tailor-made on-line learning tool, a tariff checker, glossary of key Brexit terminology, research, networking and information events.

My Department, in association with the Department of Education and Skills and key industry partners, also have a support measure to help customs agents, intermediaries and affected Irish businesses develop the capacity to deal with the additional customs requirements due to the UK’s departure from the EU. The initiative called Clear Customs comprises of a training programme and a customs financial support to assist with the costs of recruiting and assigning new staff to customs roles.

In addition, the Government has held over 100 Brexit information seminars and events. I have convened roundtable discussions with the main retail grocery and distribution players to better understand contingency planning within the sector on food supply. Revenue, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, Dublin Port and relevant Government Departments also attend these meetings.

The continued uncertainty around Brexit continues to represent a significant challenge for businesses in Ireland already under pressure from the Covid-19 pandemic. I want businesses, particularly those most impacted by Brexit and Covid-19, to know my Department and its agencies are here to help.