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

With regard to the issue of evictions raised by Deputy McGrath, the legislation that went through the House towards the end of March to ban evictions was solely in regard to domestic and residential housing. I took that legislation through on behalf of my then senior Minister. We announced that there were no evictions and that businesses are still under pressure but those evictions are linked to domestic and residential premises, not commercial premises. I make that point in case there was any doubt in regard to that legislation.

Deputies are right that, for businesses, rent and their conversations with their landlords and lending institutions around how they can pay that fixed cost form a big issue. There is no doubt that there is an issue brewing in that regard. It comes up in all of our discussions with the SME groups as well and we trying to address it. The programme for Government commits to bringing forward criteria to deal with that as well. Other measures are being examined. The July stimulus package that will be announced later this week will include more supports. We are very much aware of the issue but Deputies are right to raise it. I want to clear up the concern in regard to evictions. It is not possible under that legislation to deal with commercial evictions. That was not the intention behind it. We are aware that there is an issue. Different countries are taking different approaches in terms of how to address it. My Department and other Departments will come together to work with the sector to identify ways we can help it to get through that as well.

I will return now to the scheme and the interest rates and making them available.

I stress that this is one offering in the toolkit. There are also restart grants and waivers of rates and other costs. I ask Deputies, therefore, not to consider this to be the only solution. It is not a silver bullet and it is not meant to be. We firmly believe that this scheme will facilitate lending at lower interest rates. It has to do so under the EU framework; that is what it is about. Everyone in our meetings knows that is what this is about. It has been proven to work in many other countries. We all agree the existing scheme in this country does not provide the solutions we now need for Covid, which is why we are addressing the scheme in the Bill and changing the criteria for it within the scope of the EU framework.

I acknowledge that Deputy O'Reilly would like to outline the interest rates in the legislation but, again, it is not the suitable place to do so. If she wants briefings on the interactions with the banks, I can arrange that for her. Those discussions will continue in the coming weeks if we get this Bill through this House today and the Seanad tomorrow. Hopefully, the President will be able to sign it into law quickly. We can then finish our negotiations with the banks on the details of the scheme and statutory instruments will be signed. I think the Deputy will be happy with what comes out of that and the offer that will be made. As I stated several times, I acknowledge that the Deputy does not agree but I ask her to let the legislation go through so that we can finish this work and get the money to businesses that need it.

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