Patricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the opportunity to speak today on the CRSS and the EWSS. I have had many conversations with business owners over the past year and they all speak with one voice in saying the Department is unsympathetic to the many hard cases that are out there. Even when they are present themselves in large numbers, the Government is slow to make changes to accommodate them. It is slow to accommodate businesses that do not pay rates, slow to accommodate businesses without fixed premises, and slow to accommodate rural-based businesses whose usual customers could not legally travel to them outside of their 5 km up to last week. The Government needs to do more or these businesses will not be here this time next year. I ask if the small business assistance scheme for Covid can be extended to non-rateable businesses whose turnover is below 25% of their 2019 figure. It is a matter of survival for these businesses and a matter of survival for rural Ireland that we stop the chain reaction that will happen in the rural economy if these businesses close.

On the EWSS and TWSS, Revenue has publicly stated that for certain employees whose employer paid net weekly earnings of between €586 and €960 pre-Covid, the full amount of that subsidy due to such employees may not have been paid through the payroll process during the period the TWSS was in operation. The process of identifying those employees who qualify for an additional subsidy is currently in progress. Revenue intends to offset any additional amount against an individual’s outstanding income tax and USC due for 2020 or by way of direct refund if the person has no 2020 arrears. It is hoped this process will be implemented by the middle of the year when all the relevant data from employers have been reconciled and the required IT systems developments have been completed. More needs to be done and it needs to be done more quickly. I ask the Minister when people who have received huge bills can expect to receive TWSS reviews?

We need to ensure the bespoke version of the EWSS which has been made available to early years and after-school settings remains in place until at least the end of the year. We must support this vital but struggling sector.

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