Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I defer to the better knowledge of my colleague, Deputy Doherty, on the ability of the Revenue to govern this in terms of whether legislative change is required. If such change is not required, that would be a positive thing.

The point has been well made. This is a particular category of business. I accept 100% that everything in respect of the CRSS is being done in the interests of supporting business. I accept there is no bad faith and that there is a genuine desire to help businesses. I accept of course that it is complex to design a scheme. It is a little like designing constituencies in that no matter where we put the line, it will always fall somewhere such that someone is not totally happy with it. Having said that, there is no other category of business I can think of where the largest part of the business is restricted while a small minority of the trade is not. The point has been well made that there is a division in this regard. I believe an ability was shown, at the time of the restrictions, to distinguish between businesses that could not open, even though a minority of such business could be allowed, but the majority of it could not be.

While the Minister said he would look at it, I am unsure whether the tone of what he was saying exactly implied that he would pursue it enthusiastically or vigorously or that he was optimistic resolution could be found. I hope the Minister can do so. This is a particular category and the number of businesses is not great. I believe it can be done in such a way that does not create further anomalies or precedents or anything like that. The idea is to treat a business as a restricted business because the largest part of the business cannot function. Perhaps the scope for a resolution exists within the Revenue Commissioners. In keeping with the spirit of the scheme, we should try to support these particular businesses that are affected and with a little creativity and imagination we can come up with a solution.

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