Mr. Declan Hughes:

On the matter of online retail, there are two parts to our approach. We have a general scheme of trading online vouchers which we operate with the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications. Introductory vouchers of €2,500 are provided for all businesses, right across the board. As I said, during the early stages of the pandemic, such vouchers were provided to everything from takeaways to restaurants, professional services companies, manufacturers and software firms that trade internationally. We also increased that. A number of businesses may have got their first voucher in previous years but we changed the regime so they could get a second voucher to increase sophistication. I would like to get the message out that any business that got a voucher in the first six months and which may have implemented its plan is encouraged to come back for a step up as such businesses may need to put new systems in place with regard to customs relationship management. That scheme operates right across the board.

The online retail scheme is another step up. It is specifically aimed at the retail sector, which has been broadly defined, to help improve firms' sophistication. In some cases, firms may need to hire a studio and invest in photography to demonstrate their activities or to expand the range on offer. I can think of some examples. When the Tánaiste launched the list of the 183 successful applicants under the scheme, he did so in a fashion retailer in central Dublin which operates five or six stores and which had never traded online previously. We also have the example of pharmacists, some of whom who have one or two premises will say that they now have a third shop which operates 24 hours. While they are sleeping, money is coming in. These are real examples. With regard to traditional business, I can think of a marine supplier who has engaged in the scheme. The scheme operates across the board and up to €40,000 is available to businesses under it.

We reduced the internationalisation criteria for the scheme as part of the call during the summer. It was previously very focused on helping companies to serve the domestic market while internationalising. We see that serving the domestic market is very important in its own right and we wish to help businesses with the transition towards an online presence, which I mentioned earlier. We have just closed-----