Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I begin by supporting Deputy Naughten's call for the Bord na Móna wage subsidy situation and voluntary redundancy to be sorted out. I, too, was contacted by a number of workers and union representatives in Shannonbridge. A number of workers were let go some weeks ago and were given the pandemic unemployment payment, but the whole idea of the payment is for companies to keep their workers on the payroll. There is an issue in that regard. I have received no response even though I sent the email a number of weeks ago. The matter needs to be looked into in addition to clarity being provided for workers who have looked for voluntary redundancy.

I raised the issue of the Minister's engagement with the banking sector a number of weeks ago and emphasised that many mortgage holders in distress felt they had no option but to look for the mortgage break, only to find out they would be paying an additional €2,000 or €3,000 because of having to avail of it. I pointed out to the Minister that mortgage holders felt they were being punished in this regard and I asked for some further engagement with the banks to sort out the matter. Since then, the Minister has engaged further with the Central Bank of Ireland, Banking & Payments Federation Ireland and the Revenue Commissioners to support customers in difficulty due to Covid-19. Will the Minister provide an update on the engagement? I understand that the engagement included discussions on how extensive supports for SME customers will be rolled out, which I welcome.

However, as I am sure the Minister is aware, while many SMEs are availing of the credit guarantee scheme, there is a problem in that microenterprises and SMEs involved in agriculture, horticulture and the fisheries are excluded from the scope of this scheme. It appears that there are restrictions under state aid rules and I would like some clarity on that. The current SME credit guarantee scheme is about encouraging additional lending to SMEs by offering a partial Government guarantee, currently 80%, to banks against losses on qualifying loans. The same sort of guarantees may be of immense importance to the sectors I referred to previously and these sectors need these guarantees now more than ever.

We are in an entirely different space at this point with respect to the rationale for the state aid rules. It is no longer about competition. It is merely about survival. We need to do all we can to support those sectors. I know that farming organisations such as the IFA have called for these measures to be introduced and I want to ask the Minister if he could make a comment on such financing and the state aid rules. Also, have there been any negotiations on easing or relaxing the state aid rules?

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