Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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I move amendment No. 4:

In page 8, between lines 7 and 8, to insert the following:

“(4) The Minister for Finance and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment shall, within one month of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before Dáil Éireann a progress report on the introduction of a scheme to provide financial assistance to businesses relying on oil and LPG as an energy source in the operation of their business.”.

We talked about LPG and oil in the context of businesses. This amendment would require the Ministers for Finance and Enterprise, Trade and Employment to provide a progress report within one month of the passing of this Bill with respect to the introduction of a scheme to provide financial assistance to those businesses relying on LPG and oil in order to operate. There is great frustration over the delay in introducing financial support for businesses that are dependent on LPG and oil and which are, for that reason, locked out of TBESS. Who designed this scheme and decided to lock a great many businesses out of it? It is just ridiculous. There are businesses that are really struggling. Again, this comes down to an issue of equality. I know what the Minister has said in the past about Revenue having concerns about energy sources that are not metered and so forth but it is only at the last minute that the penny is dropping for those in government that we do not have piped gas outside the capital and some of our larger cities and that, just like households, companies are using oil and LPG. These companies are really struggling and there has still been no announcement. We have the Finance Bill but still have no scheme in respect of LPG and oil. It is not acceptable. It is absolutely appalling that so many companies and regions of this State have been overlooked by Government in respect of this issue.

When will we see a scheme in respect of LPG and oil? Has the Minister made provision for the cost associated with any such scheme? Does he have an estimate of the number of businesses that rely on either LPG or oil as a primary energy source? Can he explain why support is not provided for these businesses through TBESS? When are we going to see something up and running that will support these businesses?