Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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285. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the actions his Department is taking to support Irish small and medium enterprises seeking to enter new export markets; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [66662/25]

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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To achieve sustainable, diversified growth and enhanced economic resilience, it is vital that the Irish-owned enterprise sector fulfils its potential to scale and succeed on global markets. As an agency of my Department, Enterprise Ireland (EI), is responsible for helping prospective and emerging exporters to build company scale and expand their reach.

Enterprise Ireland's Strategy 2025–2029, titled "Delivering for Ireland, Leading Globally", outlines a comprehensive plan to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through a combination of financial, policy, and strategic initiatives.

From a position of strength and resilience, Irish enterprise is facing challenges due to trade volatility, digital transformation altering business models and processes, and climate change. The new Strategy seeks to support Irish business to navigate these challenges via delivery of support to accelerate sustainable Irish business to start, compete, scale and connect.

In response to the US trade tariffs, Enterprise Ireland launched two new grants to support Enterprise Ireland client companies to assess and respond to the impact of US trade tariffs.??The roll-out of the supports was aligned to the launch of the Government’s Action Plan on Market Diversification.

The new supports help companies to develop tariff mitigation strategies and to be market diversified are:

• Enterprise Ireland’s Market Research Grant?offers funding of up to €35,000 for companies to assess the full impact of tariffs, gain market insights and develop mitigation strategies.???
• Enterprise Ireland’s New Markets Validation Grant offers funding of up to €150,000 for companies to develop market entry strategies for new markets or new products.