John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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76. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the projects that have received additional funding in order to prepare for Brexit. [35510/20]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Budget 2021 provides around €340 million for measures to prepare for Brexit through the continuation of existing measures as well as a number of new supports. This builds on more than €700 million of Brexit measures in successive Budgets since the UK referendum on EU membership, bringing Brexit expenditure to over €1 billion.

Budget 2021 provides additional funding for a range of sectoral supports, including to: Local Enterprise Offices, to support indigenous businesses; Intertrade Ireland, to meet the increase in demand for their services; the Clear Customs Scheme, to support businesses by providing financial assistance for the costs associated with developing additional customs clearance capacity; the Online Retail Scheme, which assists Irish businesses in enhancing their online capability and sustainability; and Bord Bia, to enable it to implement further its plans and programmes such as market and product diversification. Additional resources havebeen provided to regulatory agencies, owing to the increased demand for their services as a result of Brexit.

This funding provision builds on measures in previous Budgets, including: enhanced outreach capacity, including the Brexit Road Show, the Getting Ireland Brexit Ready campaign, the Brexit Advisory Service, Local Enterprise Brexit Seminars; enhanced business supports, such as the Brexit SME Scorecard, the Act On Programme, the InterTrade Ireland (ITI) Brexit Implementation Vouchers; credit schemes, such as the Future Growth Loan Scheme and Brexit Loan Scheme, which provide below market rate credit so that businesses can invest to address Brexit and other requirements; and additional farm sector supports, such as the Beef Exceptional Aid Measure, which was co-funded with the European Union.

Preparations at Dublin Port, Rosslare Europort and Dublin Airport for the new checks and controls required on trade with the UK are one of the most critical and visible parts of the Government’s preparations for Brexit and work has been underway to develop the infrastructure required at the ports and airport since 2018. Budget 2021 provides for around 500 additional staff for Departments, Offices and Agencies, including the Revenue Commissioners, the Department of Agriculture, Food & the Marine and the HSE, to support and carry out customs, SPS and food safety checks and controls, bringing the total to a provision for around 1,500.

The twin impacts of Brexit and COVID-19 will have a significant impact on the Irish economy. Budget 2021 delivers on the Programme for Government commitment to establish a Recovery Fund. The €3.4 billion Fund will be flexible in its design in order to provide Government with the means to react swiftly to a constantly changing environment.