Economy Minister Diane Dodds tells Stomont's Economy Committee that "the very poor financial settlement for the NI block grant in 2021/22" represents in real terms a 15% cut to her departmental budget. Said DfE faces £54m of pressures, and the loss of £70m from EU funding.

Diane Dodds tells Economy Committee the UK's replacement for EU funding "will be significantly less than the current EU funding".
Adds: "Informal indications suggest £11m for NI. This represents a huge financial risk for the department’s ability to support economic recovery."

Diane Dodds says that on average, EU funding has equated to £100m per annum across her department and its arms length bodies. With bids for £70.6m already in for next year.
(This is all quite remarkable to hear from a pro-Brexit DUP minister.)

Diane Dodds lists off a number of Invest NI schemes backed by EU funding facing significant shortfalls from April. Invest NI's R&D budget requires £19m in 2021/22 - a SME support scheme needs £4m. The Economy Minister describes it as "a very serious gap".

The Dept for the Economy's permanent secretary Mike Brennan has told the Assembly's economy committee that as a result of the loss of EU funding for key programmes, Invest NI is in a position where it will have to stop taking on new business going forward.

Mike Brennan has said the loss of EU funding will hit DfE "probably more so than any other department".
Adds: “If everyone is serious about the economic recovery going forward, you have to resource that, it’s not just going to be met by warm words."

Diane Dodds has said the Department for the Economy anticipates it will need £12.5m to fund the 'outworkings' of the Northern Ireland Protocol in 2021/22. “That does not include the costs to businesses that are not protocol specific."