Government Supports for Business
In 2017 and 2018, over €450 million was allocated in dedicated businesssupports, including Budget 2018’s €300 million Brexit Loan Scheme for Business. As of December, over 280 businesses were approved for loans under this scheme, 58 of which have progressed to sanction to a value of €13.43 million.
More than 3,500 businesses have completed the Enterprise Ireland Brexit Scorecard, an interactive online platform which can be used by Irish companies to self-assess their exposure to Brexit. More than 2,300 SMEs have engaged directly with InterTradeIreland’s Brexit Advisory Service, while 1,044 Strategic Consultancy Grants have been approved for businesses to hire a strategic consultant to help develop a Brexit plan.
Other financial and advisory supports available include Bord Bia’s Brexit Barometer, Enterprise Ireland’s Act On Programme, Local Enterprise Boards’ Brexit mentoring support, and InterTradeIreland’s Start to Plan vouchers.
Budget 2019 included a number of additional measures, such as the introduction of a new longer-term loan Future Growth Loan Scheme of up to €300m, to assist strategic capital investment for a post-Brexit environment by business at competitive rates, for terms of 8-10 years.
Budget 2019 also included an allocation of €115m for Brexit measures across a number of Departments. This includes a €25 million allocation for essential customs requirements. There is also increased funding to the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to enable them to continue to address the challenges posed by Brexit across a range of headings, including supports for our Enterprise Agencies and for ‘Global Ireland’ – Ireland’s Global
Footprint to 2025 strategy.
This strategy will support the opening of new markets for our businesses and a higher international profile. Increased funding to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has already provided for the opening of 13 new diplomatic missions as part of Global Ireland 2025, which will contribute to helping our exporters find new markets. A total of 170 projects have been approved for funding under the Enterprise Ireland Market Discovery Fund, which supports businesses to research potential new markets. The funding provided to Departments in Budget 2019 includes a €78m package for farmers, fishermen, food SMEs and to cover additional costs related to Brexit.
All of these supports have been publicised through the Getting Ireland Brexit Ready public information campaign and public outreach events. Over 2,500 citizens and businesses attended Getting Ireland Brexit Ready events throughout October and November in Cork, Galway, Dublin, Monaghan,
Limerick and Letterkenny.
There is an extensive range of outreach and supports for firms provided by Government, enterprise agencies and regulators to ensure preparedness across all sectors of the economy. We recognise however, that there could be even greater challenges for certain firms who have a substantial export
and import exposure to the UK market, particularly in a no deal scenario.
The sectoral and regional impacts of a no deal outcome, for example in the agri-food area, arising from the imposition of tariffs and quotas on goods, and in other areas, due to more limited market access for services and more restrictive data flows, may call for further targeted interventions and supports
to business.
However, the priority at individual firm level must remain the urgent transformation of their business models, through product and service innovation, new geographic market identification, supply chain management, hedging and cost control. The need to stabilise and support viable firms during such transformation processes in order to sustain regional employment is a priority for Government. Accordingly, we continue to explore ways to enhance the existing suite of enterprise supports for this
purpose, should urgent needs materialise.
Over the course of the last 18 months we have been in dialogue with the European Commission about the scope of measures that might be needed and any possible state-aid implications.
