Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter and the general issue of supports for business in the hospitality sector. He also flagged the matter of seasonal workers, which is certainly on our agenda as well.

As has been referred to by the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and other Ministers, the programme for Government promises to bring forward a July jobs initiative to support our economy and help restore employment. Our focus is on supporting the viability of businesses and getting people back to work as quickly as possible in all sectors, including the vital hospitality sector. I cannot confirm what will be in that stimulus but it will come in the next couple of weeks. We will certainly enhance the offerings we have had so far as we are very much committed to supporting businesses in restarting and growing through job creation. We had a good and lengthy discussion on that earlier today and last night.

Helping small and medium enterprises is essential, given their pivotal role in the economy and employment. The July stimulus will extend, enhance and add to existing measures, totalling €12 billion in supports for businesses affected by Covid-19 that have already been announced. These measures include direct grants and supports, including the temporary wage subsidy scheme referred to by the Deputy. I am very conscious of the point he is making on seasonal workers and we will certainly focus on it in our work over the next couple of weeks as we bring forward the stimulus package.

There is also a €250 million restart grant fund and the Deputy is seeking changes to it. There are also liquidity supports, such as 0% financing for six months from Microfinance Ireland. This House passed the required legislation for that earlier and I hope it will go through the Seanad tomorrow in order that we can get on with the work relating to the fund. There has been a rates waiver from local authorities and the warehousing of tax liabilities by the Revenue Commissioners with respect to small and medium enterprises.

These supports are predominantly focused on our small and medium enterprises, which have been hit hardest by the Covid-19 pandemic. As stated in the programme for Government, it is planned that the July jobs initiative will set out a path for the future of the temporary wage subsidy scheme. That will deal with the length it will be extended, if it is extended, and also deal with who can access the scheme.

The most important action from the Government was to try to ensure employees were not laid off and they did not lose an all-important link with an employer. Experience demonstrates that maintenance of the link with an employer is critical to the prospects of a person recovering and resuming employment. The temporary wage subsidy scheme achieves this objective but there are issues around this connected with seasonal or part-time workers and so on. These are all being examined.

In addition to the wage subsidy scheme, the Government introduced a new payment, the pandemic unemployment payment, to help individuals who were laid off. These supports and others are now being reviewed in the context of the July jobs stimulus and the economic recovery plan, which will be brought forward around budget time in October. These are key components of the programme for Government and I expect that further announcements will be made in due course. I know Deputy Ó Cuív would like me to do that tonight but it is best that it comes forward in the overall stimulus package in the weeks ahead. The issues mentioned by Deputy Ó Cuív relating to support for temporary seasonal workers are very much part of the considerations for the future of the wage subsidy scheme, and rightly so.

As the public health restrictions are eased, the challenge for the economy, SMEs and all businesses is evolving. Work is ongoing on how best to continue to support employers in the more medium term, including consideration of support for temporary seasonal workers and new hires. Also, I spoke earlier about new start-ups because people might change career during these times.

Since it was introduced in March, more than 65,900 employers have registered with Revenue for the temporary wage subsidy scheme and more than 58,600 employers have availed of the scheme, which is almost one third of all employers from 2019. More than 567,600 jobs have been directly supported over the period and many more indirectly. That is considerable coverage and it is noted that the value of payments made to date is nearly €2 billion.

Changes have also been made to the scheme to allow additional flexibility in the case of lower paid workers to increase the level of subsidy they receive, for workers returning from maternity, paternity and adoptive leave, and for apprentices who were engaged in a period of off-the-job or block release training in February of this year. The update and the need for the wage subsidy scheme will continue to be monitored as the public health restrictions are eased and the economy continues to recover.

My final point is on the restart grant, which was launched on 22 May 2020. The scheme was devised in recognition of the fact that micro and small businesses were particularly vulnerable to the economic effects of Covid-19. To date, there have been applications for €130 million in grants and just over €71 million has been paid out so far. There is another €17 million in the pipeline to be paid out this week.

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