Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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38. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of calls have been made to his Department’s Brexit helpline for business supports; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1109/21]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Business Supports Call Centre was first established in my Department in March 2020 to provide information to business owners seeking assistance following the onset of the COVID 19 pandemic.

The Centre has a dedicated phone number and email address. It was decided to maintain this resource for the business community as an Enterprise Information Centre providing a central point of contact within my Department for businesses to be provided with information about, and signposted to, the range of services and assistance available, not limited to but including, Brexit related supports, from my Department, its Offices and Agencies.

Since its establishment in March the Call Centre has dealt with almost 11,500 queries from business owners.  The Enterprise Information Centre is open and operational from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday, in addition to this, the Enterprise Information Centre was operative over the period 1 to 3 January by both phone and email and continues to direct businesses to relevant Brexit related enterprise supports and to the regulatory services that fall within the remit of my Department and its Agencies.

Since its launch on the 11th November the Information Centre has handled 50 Brexit related queries covering issues such as customs procedures, phytosanitary and sanitary checks and, in the case of my own Department and agencies, advice ranging from enterprise supports for businesses for Brexit to regulatory issues such as product certification/product standards and obligations for importers of chemicals. This low number was expected given the substantial advice and resources on a range of Brexit issues across Government Departments/agencies, including extensive webinar content, that was made available on the Government Brexit portal at www.Gov.ie/Brexit prior to 1 January 2021.

The Enterprise Information Centre can be contacted by telephone at 353 1 631 2002 and by email at infobusinesssupport@enterprise.gov.ie

Offices and Agencies under my remit, have also put in place relevant arrangements, including key contact details, to respond to Brexit related queries from 1 January 2021 both by phone and email.