Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Michael Healy-Rae for giving way. I welcome the July stimulus package of €7.2 billion. I wish to raise a few points that have come up in conversations I have had with business people in Limerick and north Tipperary, particularly relating to the employment wage subsidy scheme. The existing scheme covers proprietary directors, who are people with more than 50% shareholding in a limited company. Many businesses in the SME sector operate such incorporations. Typically, a person to whom that applies starts out as a sole trader before incorporating into a limited company. Proprietary directors are covered under the existing scheme and would be considered an employee of a limited company. I think it was a good measure to keep all employees together, including proprietary directors.

Under the legislation before Members that provides for the employment wage subsidy scheme, proprietary directors do not qualify. That needs to be amended. I know that, under the previous scheme, the Minister looked to correct anomalies where they arose. The general thrust of the scheme is very good.

I hope that guidelines will go up on the Revenue website as quickly as possible. Many employers are asking me about the arrangements for paying staff and the amount they can expect to receive. Ultimately, this matter is all about getting people into employment and keeping them there.

I ask the Minister to look specifically at amending the legislation to include proprietary directors who are effectively the owners of SMEs that happen to be incorporated, as many businesses are. That is something that needs to be corrected and amended. I have been getting a lot of feedback on that matter. The guidelines for the scheme must go up online.

I welcome the fact that the Minister is allowing business losses for a sole trader in 2020 to be put back against 2019. Many businesses will be getting their 2019 accounts ready at the moment and will file returns in October. It would expedite matters if people can throw the losses back to the 2019 tax year. It is likely that people will have overpaid tax last year and would be entitled to a refund that would give their businesses an enormous boost. That is important.

The staycation credit is welcome. The Minister has talked about an application through which people can claim that credit and it should be put in place as quickly as possible to allow people to make those claims. It is a welcome measure. It is good that consumers will pay hotels and bed and breakfast accommodation to stay in them and, together with other areas of hospitality, can claim a credit back. Pub owners are anxious because they want to reopen in a safe fashion and I ask that guidelines for that area will be looked at.

I will turn now to look forward and consider the future of Ireland. The negatives from the pandemic have been difficult on businesses but there have also been positives. There is now a model for working from home and flexible working hours that can work. Using Zoom meetings benefits the climate because people do not have to travel. I welcome the fact that we are looking at that whole area. Decentralisation must now be looked at again in a constructive way. The last effort at decentralisation had a few successful elements but ran aground. It needs to be looked at again and issues like traffic must be considered. Balanced regional development requires 75% growth outside Dublin.

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That is important and would be a practical measure to assist those outside the greater Dublin area.

The Microfinance Ireland loan scheme has been a great success to date. However, the Minister is probably aware at this point that it is not accepting any new applications. Many businesses want to apply for loans and to get their businesses back up and running. I ask that the extra funding that will be made available to Microfinance Ireland be expedited. It would have a very practical import. I also welcome the fact that the restart grant scheme has been significantly enhanced. That is important for businesses.

The July stimulus package is to be welcomed. I expect it will feed into the national economic plan in the next budget. I always felt that one of the successes of the Covid pandemic from the point of view of Government was that it was very flexible in regard to the arrangements that needed to be tweaked. The employment subsidy scheme was tweaked on a number of occasions. It works very well.

We need to tweak other schemes to ensure that proprietary directors can be included. That would make an enormous difference to businesses. There is an anomaly whereby employees are in receipt of the WSS but two, three or more proprietary directors cannot claim Covid payments because their company has had to cease operation. It is an anomaly that needs to be corrected.

We need to get the staycation app up and running. Decentralisation needs to be progressed. There is a need for a White Paper policy statement on that.

If the Minister did nothing more but instruct Microfinance Ireland to continue to accept loan applications so that they can be assessed until such time as extra funding is put in place to allow payouts, that would be welcome. There is no reason we should lose time. It is something about which I feel very strongly.

This Bill is about getting people back into employment. Businesses face very challenging times. I commend the Irish people and, more particularly, Irish businesses and employees on what they have come through. The July stimulus will provide them with a significant degree of support and I compliment the Government on its work to date. I will continue to work with it. Anything I have put forward is done with the aim of improving what are the very good schemes that are in place and ensuring they work to the maximum extent possible to keep people in employment and to get them back into work.

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