Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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There is no scheme and nobody knows how much money any of the businesses will get. Am I wrong? Does any business know the level of grant aid support that is going to be provided to it? Does any business know when it will get it? There is no scheme. The Government does not have a clue. This has been a massive error since last year. These businesses have had to fund all of the energy cost increases themselves with no certainty about dealing with their bank managers about what is coming down the line. Not only is there no legislation for this scheme or no administration to underpin it but none of these businesses know what is coming. Will it be €500, €5,000 or €50,000? They do not have a clue. They do not know what rate will apply, what period it will apply from or what the eligibility criteria are. They do not even know if they will fall within the system. This is not good enough. It is ridiculous that this is being left.

It will be April soon and we will go into the Easter recess without a dickie bird notion of what is happening in terms of supporting businesses. That should have been dealt with at the start. This goes back to the mentality of the Government, which just forgot that there is a whole region out there that does not use piped gas but uses LPG or oil as a primary source. Those businesses were completely ignored and then the Government finds out that in respect of the scheme it brought in with a price tag - the Minister is so good at pricing things - of €1.2 billion, only €34 million is drawn down because the scheme is unworkable even for those who are eligible. It is not acceptable that the Government does not know. Businesses expected that as we are dealing with a Finance Bill, they would have some type of certainty. How long does it take to figure out that these businesses need to be supported and figure out what type of grant level is needed? I believe this is not a priority. If it was, it would have been dealt with. I know Deputy English has to speak up for his party but there are businesses in his community and county that are locked out of this scheme. It is not good enough.

The Minister is right. A figure of €1.2 billion has been allocated for TBESS. It was not allocated for this scheme but the money is there. What is missing is the actual scheme. What is missing is a number of Ministers coming together and recognising that for a lot of these businesses, it is an emergency. Their energy prices are going through the roof. Many of these businesses are holding on and telling their bank managers there is a scheme but they do not know what is happening. Credit is tightening. We have the situation in the international credit environment referred to by Deputy Durkan. It is not good enough. It does not take this long to come up with a scheme or give some certainty. We might have to deal with legislation and underpin it in legislation. That is fine but the Minister should just give these individuals certainty as regards what is coming down the line, when will it come down the line, what will it be and who will be eligible. I speak of the frustration of businesses in my community that have been locked out of this scheme and have been campaigning for months to get a scheme. They then thought they would have some certainty when this was announced a couple of months ago and still we are going into the Easter recess for two weeks and there is no certainty for them. The Minister cannot even say that we will know in two weeks' time. It is really not good enough. What has happened here in terms of this scheme is diabolical.