Robert Troy
Question:305. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation her views on a proposal by an organisation (details supplied) to mitigate a hard Brexit. [41664/19]
View answerTuesday, 15 October 2019
Questions (305)
Written answers
Export credit insurance is a complex area that is subject to State Aid constraints. There are existing facilities in the market which may be accessed by exporters immediately to mitigate the impact of Brexit on their businesses. These include the Brexit Loan Scheme and Future Growth Loan Scheme.
The Brexit Loan Scheme provides affordable financing to businesses that are either currently impacted by Brexit or will be in the future. The Scheme is delivered by the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI) through Bank of Ireland, Ulster Bank and AIB and makes €300 million available to eligible businesses with up to 499 employees at an interest rate of 4% or less.
Loans can be used for future working capital requirements, or to fund innovation, change or adaption of a business to mitigate the impact of Brexit.
Brexit Loan features include:
- Loan amount from €25,000 up to a maximum of €1,500,000
- Loan term of up to 3 years
- Loans less than €500,000 will be unsecured
- Interest rate of 4% or less.
The Future Growth Loan Scheme provides affordable financing to Irish businesses and the primary agriculture and seafood sectors to support strategic long-term investment in a post Brexit environment. The Scheme, which is delivered by the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI) through Bank of Ireland, Ulster Bank, KBC and AIB makes €300 million available to eligible businesses with up to 249 employees at an interest rate of 4.5% or less for loans up to €249,999 and 3.5% and less for loans greater than or equal to €250,000.
Loans can be used for investment in tangible or intangible assets for the purpose of process and organisational innovation or investment in tangible and intangible assets on agricultural holdings linked to primary agricultural production.
Future Growth Loan features include:
- Loan amount from €100,000 (€50,000 for primary agriculture) up to a maximum of €3,000,000
- Loan term from a minimum of 8 years to a maximum of 10 years
- Loans less than €500,000 will be unsecured
- Interest rate of 4.5% for loans up to €249,999 and 3.5% and less for loans greater than or equal to €250,000.
Enterprise Ireland and the Local Enterprise Offices also provide supports specifically to help companies to diversify. These supports include the Local Enterprise Offices Technical Assistance for Micro-Exporters (TAME) Grant. This grant supports clients to explore and develop new export market opportunities. With a focus on helping companies to diversify, this scheme is a matched-funding opportunity with up to €2,500 available.
The Enterprise Ireland Market Discovery Fund incentivises companies to undertake market research and develop viable and sustainable market entry strategies in new geographic markets. The Market Discovery Fund provides support towards internal and external costs incurred when researching new markets for products and services. Support can be provided over an 18 month period from project start date to project end date. Support for Market Discovery Fund applies when eligible companies are either looking at a new geographic market for an existing product/service or an existing geographic market for a new product/service.