Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This scheme has been tinkered with in different ways over many years. It is clear that it has not worked in the way it was intended to work. As mentioned, there has been criticism from industry that it was poorly marketed and flawed and that even in its early stage it did not reached the level of uptake achieved by the business expansion scheme, BES, which it replaced. The Minister of State mentioned that self-certification is a leap forward. He also referenced a three-month delay in the processing of applications by Revenue. Will the Minister elaborate on the reason it took three months to process the applications? In reality, this would become an issue if there was evidence to suggest that those who applied for the scheme did not follow through as a result of the delay. Self-certification would be a benefit to companies only if it was shown that those who applied did not follow through as a result of the there being a three-month delay. In other words, the three-month delay was an inconvenience as opposed to a deterrent to invest. Will the Minister of State outline the rationale for moving from Revenue approval to self-certification? What has been the fall-off as a result of what the three-month delay within Revenue in terms of the processing of these applications?

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