Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I would still ask the Minister to ask the Department to have a look at the data because sometimes things can be got wrong and I think it has been got wrong in this situation. The issue here is not just that the businesses were hit hard by the high energy costs but they were misled by the Government twice, first when TBESS was announced and then when the grant scheme was appointed. Also, businesses make the decision such as taking on debt to back that announcement.

The other thing is that manufacturing was also excluded. Companies which were relying on kerosene for manufacturing were also included but this was just for heating not for manufacturing. I ask please that someone within the Department could just have another look at this to see what can be done because it is very much impacting on businesses in rural areas. I believe the data in this instance deserves or needs further interrogation with respect to our getting to the bottom of what we want to get at here.

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