Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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27. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of businesses in County Cork that have availed of the Microfinance Ireland Brexit business loan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44885/20]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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To enhance the suite of loans products available to Irish businesses who will be impacted by Brexit, Microfinance Ireland (MFI) launched their Brexit Business Loan on the 23rd of November 2020. MFI and officials in my Department have developed this loan product to operate under MFI’s remit which means the loans are available to micro businesses, eg, businesses with less than 10 employees and €2 million turnover.

For these businesses the impact of Brexit is more likely to be felt in imports and supply chains rather than exports. They will need to source new supply chains resulting in the need for cash payments for new stock. It is expected that many of these loans will be short term; less than 12 months. Hence the flexibility of the term of the loan from 6 months to 3 years.

The loan range of €5,000 to €25,000 is the requisite size for these smaller companies. It will assist them counter the initial disruption of Brexit and give them breathing space to normalise any import of supply chain changes going into the future.

To end of December, there were no draw downs under the MFI Brexit Business Loan in Cork or elsewhere.  MFI are ready to deliver these loans. For the size of these loans, they have favourable interest rates of 4.5% APR if submitted through the Local Enterprise Office (LEO) Network or other referral partners or 5.5% APR if applied directly. This is to encourage these businesses to contact their LEO so as to avail of any other relevant training or potential for grant aid. There are no fees or charges or any hidden costs and there is no penalty for early repayment.