Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

My Department is working with the LEOs on a local media campaign to support the "Shop Local" initiatives that are already active across the country. The purpose of this campaign will be to encourage communities to support businesses in their area by shopping locally and safely.

Even while under level 5 Covid-19 restrictions where people cannot physically enter certain stores, they can continue to buy from them through remote ordering. Orders can be placed for products, including non-essential items, either online or by phone, and fulfilled through home delivery or collection. The growth in demand for shopping online is driving the retail sector to also develop its online trading capability to enhance its competitiveness. This is an important route for retail businesses in the current crisis and will be an important element in their recovery over the longer term.

The €2,500 trading online vouchers are available to help small and microenterprises with very limited or no e-commerce presence to get online, boost their sales and reach new markets, particularly during this difficult period when so many businesses are closed to the public. Businesses can also apply for a second voucher where they have successfully utilised their first one, which brings the overall total voucher amount available up to €5,000.  As of 6 November, 13,789 applications have been received, of which 10,721 have been approved so far, to a value of just over €25 million.

The Covid-19 online retail scheme has been introduced to support Irish-owned retail businesses to rapidly adapt and enhance their online business capability as they work within the Covid-19 public health measures. It helps to position retail businesses for recovery in the future, once the public health emergency and related measures have passed. Grants ranging from €10,000 to €40,000 are payable to successful applicants under the scheme. An additional €5 million has been provided as part of budget 2021. As of 6 November, 373 applications had been received, of which 185 retailers have been approved so far, to a value of €6.58 million.

I thank retailers and their customers for their efforts at this difficult time. By each of us following the spirit of these new rules and working together, we can hopefully return to a lower level of the living with Covid-19 framework.

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