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

It is fair to say that when we were in the teeth of the pandemic, we intervened and intervened at scale to save as many businesses and jobs as possible because it was not just about businesses, it was also about saving the jobs of the people who worked in them. However, there are constraints - much more so than would have been the case during the pandemic. Now that the cost of Government borrowing is rising, we are in a different place compared with where we were two or three years ago. There are budget limits and we are not in a position to say to any household or business that we cover the full cost of its increased energy bills. In fairness, I do not think anyone is calling for or expects that.

We are also constrained by the EU temporary crisis framework, which comprises a set of European rules that are not just there to annoy us. Those rules are there for a good reason, namely, to ensure that taxpayers' money is protected and that different countries do not out-compete each other with better subsidies all the time. That is just a beggar-my-neighbour attitude. The temporary crisis framework is there to protect us from that. Under the framework, we are only permitted to cover 30% of the increase in energy costs. We are trying to push that to 40% but I do not want to raise expectations that it will be possible to do better than 40% because that is not the feedback we are getting from the Commission or other member states. We can always look at other ways of helping businesses beyond energy supports. We have done that with the VAT reduction and perhaps there are other ways.

In the short term, the focus will be on the Government-backed loans, the energy subsidy and the new emergency scheme we announced today. In the medium to long term, the EU temporary crisis framework will allow us to extend these interventions beyond the end of February. They can be extended to the end of next year, but, obviously, no decision has been made on that nor can it be at this stage. The longer-term approach is quite different. It involves ramping up investment in renewables so we are less dependent on oil and gas and encouraging businesses to adopt energy efficiency. I have heard of some businesses that have reduced their energy bills dramatically just by covering their fridges, but I also know of plenty of businesses that have done everything right and are still facing very high energy bills.

Under the schemes operated by my Department and the Department of Finance, charities are not covered unless they have a trading income. There is a fund to help charities and sports clubs in a different way. This is run by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.

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