Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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28. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the funding provided to InterTradeIreland in each year for which data are available, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63605/22]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The table below details the funding provided to InterTradeIreland by my Department in each of the years following its establishment.

InterTrade Ireland (ITI) is one of the six North/South Implementation Bodies established under the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. Its statutory functions are set down in the British-Irish Agreement Act, 1999 and it undertakes a wide range of business support programmes to assist business on a cross-border basis. It works to drive competitiveness, jobs and growth by improving connectivity between businesses and vital resource providers through the twin pillars of innovation and trade. It provides a targeted portfolio of programmes to help businesses exploit their competitive advantage in the areas of science, technology, innovation and sales and marketing, all backed by evidence-based economic and business research.

Funding of ITI is jointly provided by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and its counterpart in Northern Ireland, the Department for the Economy. In line with a recommendation by the North South Ministerial Council, that allocation has been split on a 2:1 basis, with DETE providing two thirds of the funding for the body.

The new trading relationship between Britain and the EU has presented challenges to businesses operating on both sides of the border. It will be seen that the Department has increased its funding to Intertrade Ireland in recent years to enable it to provide a range of targeted supports and services to assist business in meeting these challenges.