Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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108. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the status of the Brexit impact loan scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60810/21]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Brexit Impact Loan Scheme was launched in the market by Bank of Ireland in October this year. AIB subsequently opened for applications through the Scheme in November as well as five Credit Unions in the Metamo Credit Union Group: Access CU, Cara CU, Savvi CU, St. Canice’s CU and St. Francis CU. It is anticipated that a further lender to the Scheme will open to applications next January.

The Scheme will make up to €330 million in competitively priced lending available to eligible Brexit impacted SMEs and small mid-caps, including farmers and fishers.

Finance provided under the scheme is competitively priced and offered at favourable terms. Loans range from €25,000 to €1.5 million per eligible business, with loans up to €500,000 available unsecured. Loan terms of up to six years are available for working capital/liquidity and investment purposes. In addition the scheme offers some element of refinancing.

The Brexit Impact Loan Scheme features a two-stage application process. Businesses must first apply to the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI) to confirm their eligibility under the scheme. Successful applicants will be issued an eligibility reference number, which they can then use to apply for a loan under the scheme with one of the participating finance providers.

As of December 6^th2021, 368 eligibility applications have been approved by SBCI and 77 loans have been sanctioned to a value of €7.6 million.

I encourage SMEs and small mid-caps to look at the Brexit Impact Loan scheme as an option for accessing the finance they require to help them as they pivot and adjust in response to and in mitigating the challenges that they face due to Brexit.

Full scheme details are available on the SBCI website.