Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

These questions are grouped because they are more or less the same. I will ask about the terms of the €250 million. I have no hesitation, as we did at the time, in welcoming that. However, the high energy costs are only one element. The Minister himself has said increases in the cost of business are coming down the line that will apply to companies and small to medium enterprises, which may have only a tiny rateable premises. In some instances they may have no premises at all. They will not be immune from the costs of doing business, even while they might be insulated from one element. The Minister himself has broadened it beyond energy. I know many people in the world of small to medium enterprises who are scratching their heads as to why more of that money could not have been re-profiled from the TBESS. As the Minister knows, only €150 million of the €1.3 billion was drawn down. He says this is more money than was expended by TBESS, but that was an incredibly difficult scheme to get into. He acknowledged that himself. I know it was tweaked, but the evidence is there. The cost of energy is high, the cost of business is high and the numbers that were drawing from that scheme were low. I welcome that this scheme will be clear, but will he give us an indication as to when the money will start to get into people's bank accounts?

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