Enterprise Ireland approves €74m Brexit funds

Innovator: Enterprise Ireland CEO Julie Sinnamon at its head office in East Point business park in Dublin. Photo: Arthur Carron

David Chance

Enterprise Ireland, the State’s overseas business promotion authority has approved funding worth €74m to help those companies that are most exposed to Brexit, although it believes 25,000 jobs here are vulnerable in the event of a hard Brexit.

Chief executive Julie Sinnamon said that the uncertainty surrounding Brexit had already started to damage Irish businesses, some of whom were not able to increase prices to cover the decline in the value of the pound.

With just 78 days until Brexit, there is no more clarity over the terms under which Britain will leave the European Union than there was at the time of the referendum on June 23, 2016.

The pound fell dramatically after the referendum and has remained under pressure ever since and has lost 16pc of its value against the euro since the vote.

The agency said the biggest hit from Brexit would be felt in food and agriculture.

In July, it released a survey of over 2,400 clients which found that 85pc were taking Brexit-related actions.

Over 2018, companies receiving funding from Enterprise Ireland added a net 9,119. Of the jobs that companies it invests in created, 64pc were outside Dublin, with construction, life sciences and engineering the top sectors.