I propose to take Questions Nos. 1291 to 1293, inclusive, together.
My Department is carrying out extensive work to prepare for all Brexit eventualities.
Since the Brexit Referendum, my predecessor, Mary Mitchell O’Connor, attended meetings of the Competitiveness Council on 29th September 2016, 28th November 2016 and 20th February 2017. My colleague, Minister Breen, attended the most recent meetings of the Council on 30th November 2017, 12th March, 28th May and 16th July 2018. State Aid rules did not feature on the agenda of these meetings. The Competitiveness Council is a consultative committee and is not a forum for direct representations from Member States. Nor does the Committee propose changes to State Aid rules.
Brexit has a been a central part of the discussions at meetings that both I and my predecessor, the then Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald, have had with both EU Commissioners and Ministers from other Member States. This included a meeting with the EU’s Chief Brexit Negotiator, Michel Barnier, in July 2017, where the difficulties Ireland was facing as a result of Brexit were discussed.
In November 2017, the then Tánaiste met with Commissioner Vestager, the European Commissioner for Competition who has responsibility for EU State aid policy to discuss, amongst other things, the impact of Brexit on Irish businesses. An outcome from this meeting was the establishment of a Technical Working Group comprising representatives from DG Competition, the Department of Business, Enterprise & Innovation, Enterprise Ireland and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. The objective of the Group is to scope and design schemes to support enterprises impacted by Brexit in line with State Aid rules.
Should issues arise that require an approach that does not fit within the existing State Aid rules, this will be raised as part of the Working Group discussions.
Informed by detailed research, my Department has been putting in place a package of measures that will allow us to respond to the needs of businesses. This includes the Brexit Loan Scheme which was launched in April 2018 and which will provide affordable working capital financing to eligible businesses that are either currently impacted by Brexit or will be in the future.
On 4th May 2018 the EU Commission approved an extension to the Rescue and Restructuring Scheme for Ireland to include temporary restructuring aid. This provides a further 10 million euro of State support to those companies experiencing acute liquidity needs and is in addition to the original 10m euro announced in November 2017 under the Rescue and Restructuring scheme. Together with the Brexit Loan Scheme, this temporary restructuring aid will provide valuable stabilisation to businesses as they respond to the immediate and long-term impacts of the UK’s decision to leave the EU.
My officials are also examining policy proposals for a new longer-term Business Investment Loan Scheme to support businesses to invest strategically for a post-Brexit environment and a new Business Finance Advisory Hub service which would focus on business development.
The Agencies of my Department are at the forefront in working with firms to ensure they are equipped to deal with Brexit and to enhance their performances in an increasingly competitive global trading environment through lean programmes, skills development and reducing business costs.
Enterprise Ireland (EI) has launched the 'Brexit SME Scorecard', an interactive online tool which can be used by all Irish companies to self-assess their exposure to Brexit. EI is also offering a 'Be Prepared Grant' of up to €5,000 to support clients to develop a Brexit Action Plan and it continues to support clients to improve their competitiveness, acquire new markets and enhance management skills.
The Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) are organising workshops, seminars and training to assist companies to better understand the challenges of Brexit and have a range of supports to help clients to respond to those challenges, to become more competitive and to source new markets.
InterTrade Ireland is also working to minimise the impact of Brexit on north-south trade.
