Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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67. To ask the Minister for Trade, Enterprise and Employment if he remains satisfied that Ireland's export market will continues to be accessible in the immediate aftermath of Brexit; if particular or specific challenges have been identified as potential major obstacles for Irish exporters and importers; if contingency measures have been fully decided upon; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35095/20]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Brexit, in whatever shape it finally takes, will have a significant impact on the Irish economy and fundamentally change the way in which Irish businesses trade with the UK. Whatever the outcome of the EU-UK future relationship negotiations, the UK will leave the Single Market and the Customs Union at the end of December. The most immediate impact on businesses trading with Great Britain will be the new customs requirements that will kick in on 1 January as well as controls and checks on the movement of goods of animal or plant origin.

Despite the changes and the fact that trade will not be as seamless as it is now, with less than eight weeks to run until the end of the Brexit transition period, Government has intensified preparations to get businesses Brexit ready.

Budget 2021 was prepared on the basis of a No Deal Brexit that provided for a contingency fund of €100 million available to assist businesses with Brexit, as well as a €3.4 billion recovery fund in light of the unprecedented challenges facing the economy of COVID-19 and Brexit.

A wide range of enterprise supports and financial incentives to assist importers and exporters alike to meet Brexit challenges have been put in place. These range from Brexit planning vouchers, consultancy and mentoring supports, tariff advisory services, research on new markets, and innovation supports, liquidity supports, offered through a number of Government agencies including Enterprise Ireland, the Local Enterprise Offices, IntertradeIreland and the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI).

The loan-guarantee schemes currently delivered through the SBCI include the Brexit Loan Scheme, the COVID-19 Credit Guarantee Scheme and the Future Growth Loan Scheme. These measures are there for businesses to deal with Brexit and COVID-19 to address impacts such as cashflow, currency hedging and longer term restructuring and diversification of their businesses.

Significant work is ongoing right across Government to get businesses Brexit ready. This includes work by the Department of Transport to get our ports ready with additional infrastructure in place to deal with the new customs and phytosanitary (SPS) checks. That Department has also been engaging extensively on the issue of maritime connectivity to assess the capacity available on direct ferry routes to continental Europe. The Report published by the Irish Maritime Development Office (IMDO) on 6 November points to there being sufficient capacity in place on direct routes to Europe as well as the capability to respond and scale up to meet increased demand.

My strong advice is that traders, hauliers/logistics companies and ferry companies should discuss their needs now in order to align ferry capacity with their needs. In order to avoid delays using the UK Landbridge from January onwards, I would also encourage traders to consider switching to direct ferry routes to Europe and to begin that process now so that exports can get to market in the most efficient manner.

Various studies and research point to the particular exposure of the agri food sector and in preparation for the new customs requirements and SPS checks, Revenue and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine have been extensively engaging with businesses, informing them of the changes ahead and actively working with them to assist in their preparations.

As part of the July Jobs Stimulus, a new €20 million “Ready for Customs”grant was announced and is overseen by Enterprise Ireland to help businesses prepare for the new challenges of trading with and through Great Britain. This scheme provides grants to businesses of up to €9,000 per eligible employee hired, or redeployed within the business, to a dedicated customs role.

A second phase of Skillnet Ireland’s free customs training, Clear Customs Online 2020, is open for applications since 9 September, to support the customs intermediary sector and businesses that trade frequently with, or through, the UK. Since 9 September, over 1,000 businesses have registered for Clear Customs Online 2020.

Enterprise Ireland also run an on-line Customs Insights course which is helping businesses to understand the key customs concepts, documentation and processes required to move goods from, to and through the UK. The Local Enterprise Offices are also carrying out the second phase of their one-to-one successful Brexit mentoring and training “Prepare Your Business for Customs” workshops. These workshops have commenced and are supported by a full awareness campaign to target small Irish businesses.

My Department, through the regulatory agencies under my remit, also has ongoing engagement in important regulatory areas such as product certification and standardisation, market surveillance and on consumer and competition issues. Agencies such as the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) and the National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) hosted webinars, which are available on their websites, to inform businesses of the important steps they need to take to be Brexit ready from a regulatory perspective.

Preparing and investing intensively for the change that Brexit will bring from the start of next year is a key priority across Government. We remain committed to ensuring that those preparations will pave the way, as far as possible, for trade to move as freely as possible for our importers and exporters.