James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

At the outset, I wish Deputy Stanley well in his recovery. I thank Dr. Quinn for being here. She has outlined a couple of the key points around the gross expenditure of the Department and its growth in 2020 in comparison to 2019 as the Department reacted to the situation around Covid-19. Looking at the restart grant, there seems to be quite a number of concerns around the whole process to test eligibility and the effectiveness of its implementation. That has caused some concern. The restart grant was important for many businesses and provided them with the financial support they required to reopen. One could argue that many businesses which felt outside the criteria for that support needed it while others which may not have needed it received the support. I will ask a couple of questions about the restart grant. How did it come about in terms of the Department's operations? How did the notion of providing this type of support arise on day one? Could Dr. Quinn outline that?