Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Initially, €1 billion was provided for TBESS over effectively two budget cycles. Between the budget and the end of last year, there was €600 million, and there was another €600 million in the Estimate for this year. That was essentially an Estimate from the Department of Finance and Revenue which they were looking to facilitate through my Department's Estimate. It was made clear to us that when nothing like that amount of money was spent last year, the money was simply returned to the overall Exchequer allocation. It was not like we had a pool of money we could spend on something else. This was very much about our Department being used as a vehicle for a Revenue-run scheme. I assure the Deputy that I made the case for the reallocation of some of that money.

I can understand, to be fair, the position of the Departments of Finance and public expenditure that this was a scheme put in place to support businesses that were seeing dramatic increases in energy costs. As it happens, the demand was not what we expected, for a whole series of reasons. Many businesses had hedged with regard to their business costs.

Some businesses, particularly much smaller businesses, felt there was a long application process and they did not want to take on a professional accountant to do that. I think some businesses were perhaps a bit nervous about a long, detailed application process with Revenue. Some businesses perhaps did not have tax clearance. There was a series of reasons. The scheme announced in this budget will support businesses with the increased cost of running a business into next year due to a series of correct policy measures around minimum wage increases, extension of sick pay entitlements for leave from three to five days, planning for auto-enrolment in pension provision for the future and an increased number of bank holidays, all of which have an impact on the cost of running a business. I did a lot of town hall meetings with small businesses this year and the message we got from many was, if you are going to do something for us, please try to make it as simple as possible to apply for, particularly for very small businesses. That is why businesses will essentially automatically qualify for the €250 million we will give out in the first quarter of next year. There is no detailed application process at all.