Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 16 October 2019
142. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation following the announcement in budget 2020 of a rescue and restructuring fund of €42 million for a no-deal Brexit scenario, the details of the monetary amount that will be provided according to financial instruments (details supplied) in tabular form. [42374/19]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs outlined in the Budget last week, the Government is putting in place an additional contingency package of over €1 billion for Brexit supports for the coming year. This contingency will ensure that an initial provision of €110 million will be available to my Department and our Enterprise and Regulatory Agencies to provide targeted supports to impacted businesses in the immediate aftermath should there be a no deal Brexit outcome. The provision will also allow for additional tranches of supports to be provided to meet actual needs as the impacts of a No Deal develop.
The Rescue and Restructuring Fund (R&R Fund) is one of the supports announced in Budget 2020. It is contingent on the outcome of negotiations between the United Kingdom and the European Union and will only come into effect in the event of a No Deal Brexit.
The R&R Fund will be available to vulnerable but viable enterprises. It is designed to rescue firms with acute liquidity or insolvency problems and support them to put a restructuring plan in place to adjust to their new reality with investment support potentially of up to €10 million under state aid rules for firms of all sizes depending on circumstance. It is intended that supports under the scheme would be available to all enterprises, employing 10 people or more (excluding primary agriculture and fisheries, sole traders etc) but only as a last resort. Enterprises seeking to avail of R&R supports will have to demonstrate that they have been unable to access mainstream lending.
The R&R Fund will be delivered by Enterprise Ireland (EI) in two distinct streams. Support will initially be provided by way of acute lending funding to assist enterprises experiencing severe difficulties and subsequently by way of equity funding to assist those firms to develop and implement a restructuring plan. The funding mix and allocation as between instruments will be dependent on individual circumstances of impacted firms.
Funding will be available to eligible EI, IDA Ireland and Údarás na Gaeltachta clients, as well as non-agency clients.
It is important to reiterate that this fund is designed to mitigate the negative impacts of a No Deal Brexit and will only be activated if no agreement is reached between the United Kingdom and the European Union.
