Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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I am aware of that quirk or anomaly, if I can describe it as such. It has been raised in the media this week. I saw the relevant statement and I think it was timely. There is a way this issue can be addressed. We could define "commercial landlord" in the legislation. Clearly, many of these supports were developed quickly and when moving quickly and without an evidential basis, it is necessary to be careful about how we proceed. I would be surprised if 20% of the quantum of moneys allocated by the Department had been drawn down now. The latest figures I have access to suggest that about 15,000 claims have been processed and maybe about 12,500 to 13,000 payments have been made. There has been much criticism from constituents regarding the operation of this scheme for the reasons Mr. Brady pointed out. I know that was not an exhaustive list and there are also other reasons.

Given we are on the subject, there is likelihood the TBESS may be revised, amended or even extended in its current format. There is no case for doing the latter because it is simply not working in the way Ministers would have liked. How would our guests change it? The question might be more appropriately put as follows: what would our guests do if they had the responsibility to design a scheme that would be more effective than the TBESS?