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

I accept that. What we are doing this year is a very general measure. It is a bit like what we are doing for households on energy costs. Everyone is getting something. We are effectively acknowledging the concerns within business around the cost of doing business going up, and we are giving a quarter of a billion euro back to about 140,000 small businesses. That is effectively what we are doing in the first quarter of next year through local authorities and rates offices. It will effectively be a cash grant. We wanted to do that in recognition of this issue.

Regarding something more permanent, we need to look at how we can, in a more targeted way, support businesses to keep them competitive and to make sure they are not being put out of business unfairly by increased business costs. That is something we can look at through next year.