Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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I asked about the ancillary scheme announced in budget 2021, but obviously it was linked to the overall supports. The Covid restrictions support scheme, CRSS, is an advanced tax credit scheme. The recipients will essentially pay back the money, as it is not a grant. I have been contacted by businesses without fixed premises, such as Event Labs, which organises events such as Bingo Loco. I am not quite certain what that is as I have never been to it, but I know it is all over the State. Such businesses are significant employers and taxpayers and bring enterprise to nearly every county. They have been excluded from the scheme. The same goes for Mind Body Experience events. Furthermore, suppliers are affected upstream by the shock waves of the lockdown on their downstream customers. These people, who are not at the coalface but provide goods and services to those who are, have all been excluded because of the narrow and prescriptive nature of the scheme. Are there plans to broaden the scheme out so that businesses which are seriously suffering can access funds through the CRSS? I ask particularly in light of it being an advance tax credit scheme. It is not a bonanza or anything they will not have to repay at some point. Is the Minister amenable to examining the criteria to allow the premises that are now excluded but which are significant taxpayers to benefit from it?