Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am glad the Minister mentioned the enterprise support grant. Taxi drivers are reporting that it can take up to 11 weeks for applications to be processed and in that time they are supposed to be back at work and earning. They do not have the reserves to get back to work. That delay needs to be addressed.

I will give an example of an application under the credit guarantee scheme in my constituency. One of my constituents who was refused a low interest loan on a Monday under the credit guarantee scheme was given a loan by the same bank on Wednesday of the same week to buy the same car at an interest rate of 9%. I want the Minister to look into that. It seems the scheme is not operating as intended and certainly not to the benefit of taxi drivers.

Is there a proposal to increase the pandemic unemployment payment to €350? What will be considered in the budget? What proposals is the Minister making? What is in the mix?

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