It has been confirmed that a €300 million Brexit loan scheme will be introduced next year as part of Budget 2018.

The Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform, Paschal Donohoe, confirmed the details as part of his announcement in the Dail today.

The scheme will be open to all SME (small and medium-sized enterprises) businesses and the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed, will give further details on the scheme later today.

An allocation of €300 million to the scheme – which be supported by the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI) – will represent twice the amount that was allocated in the low-cost loan scheme.

The low-cost loan scheme that was rolled out earlier this year was met with significant interest. The entire budget was spoken for and some farmers who were late in submitting applications were put on a waiting list in case further space materialised.

It is hoped that this new €300 million Brexit loan scheme will help SME businesses grow into the future.

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Meanwhile, Minister Donohoe also revealed that a further €25 million will be put in place for a Brexit response loan scheme for the agri-food sector.

This is further to a €50 million Brexit package that was exclusively revealed by AgriLand earlier this morning.

This package will focus on building competitiveness and exploring new market opportunities. It is hoped that the package will increase innovation and provide critical funds for marketing and promotional activities.

During his speech, Minister Donohue also highlighted that the Department of Agriculture will see its funding increased by €64 million in 2018.

This increase will bring the department’s overall budget to €1.5 billion next year, in order to support Ireland’s largest indigenous industry and meet the challenges of Brexit, he added.