Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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I have a different question on what Mr. Brady said about making things simplistic in the context of the wage support schemes and things like that. One of the issues raised with me a bit has concerned the temporary business energy support scheme, TBESS, and people finding it difficult. People have come to me - butchers in particular, but this could be something that is across the board although I am not sure - to tell me they did not have any electricity bill statements. Is this something that is coming up very frequently? One butcher told me that he was unable to get money back because there was no proof in the form that he needed and that he should have spent it from his bank. The point is that he could not get TBESS. He said there may be other people who also might not have that information. Through their accountant, they have been told to do it this way. They are not, therefore, getting TBESS payments and they have just paid thousands of euro extra in electricity costs. I refer as well to people using liquefied petroleum gas, LPG, or oil. These are two other big aspects in the west that have been raised with me. On these specific issues, I ask the witnesses to touch on how people and businesses, of which they are aware, have been impacted and also if this scheme is more complex to apply for.