Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 18 April 2018
30. Deputy Jan O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation the details of the Brexit loan scheme in view of the fact that Brexit is now a year away; her plans to ensure there is widespread information and take up of the scheme; if it is limited by an overall budget; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16176/18]
View answerThe Brexit Loan Scheme was launched on 28 March 2018. The scheme leverages €23 million exchequer funding (€14 million from my Department and €9 million from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine) using a guarantee structure to provide a €300 million fund for lending to eligible businesses. Participating finance providers are Bank of Ireland and Ulster Bank, with AIB to follow in June.
The scheme is open to eligible businesses with up to 499 employees, which can demonstrate that they are significantly exposed to the impact (or potential impact) of Brexit. They must be a viable business, doing business in Ireland, and they must have a business plan demonstrating that they plan to innovate, change or adapt in response to Brexit.
As part of the launch of the scheme, my Department developed a Brexit Loan Scheme Information Pack for state agencies, TDs and Local Enterprise Offices to ensure that information on the scheme is easily available. The Information Pack is also available through my Department’s website.
The scheme is operated by the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI). As such, the SBCI will promote the Brexit Loan Scheme as part of its overall marketing plan for 2018. This is likely to include a combination of radio, social media and business targeted press coverage.
The agencies of my Department are also fully engaged in preparing for Brexit. Enterprise Ireland’s (EI) #PrepareforBrexit communications campaign, featuring the ‘Brexit SME Scorecard’, was launched in March 2017. The Scorecard is an interactive online platform which can be used by all Irish companies to self-assess their exposure to Brexit.
In terms of industry preparedness, 2,104 companies have engaged with the EI Brexit scorecard since April of last year, of whom 974 are non-clients. The majority are in construction, engineering or other manufacturing, Software and ICT or other services. The results indicate that the level of preparedness is ‘medium to low’ but improving. The Brexit Scorecard overall average scores (out of 10) from completed reports of the last 6 months is 4.91 for EI clients and 4.08 for non EI clients.
As part of awareness-raising activities, EI is rolling out regional Brexit Advisory clinics throughout the year and the Brexit Loan Scheme is being promoted through these events. To date, clinics have been held in Letterkenny, Tralee, Portlaoise, Claremorris, Cootehill and Charleville. A Brexit two-day external consultancy support is also being rolled out to individual clients to help them develop a detailed sustainable growth plan.
EI has also introduced a ‘Be Prepared Grant’ which offers up to €5,000 for exporting client companies to conduct further research and use external expertise to develop a Brexit Action Plan.
The funding to the Local Enterprise Offices has been increased by 22% over the last two years and they, along with InterTrade Ireland, are offering a range of Brexit focused supports to companies, including those engaged in cross-border trade with Northern Ireland. InterTrade Ireland also provides vouchers to enable companies to get professional advice on Brexit, including likely tariffs, currency management, regulatory and customs issues, and movement of labour, goods and services.
