David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his response. I understand exactly what is being said here, but I will quote to the Minister of State from the frequently asked questions on the Department website. Under the question "What is the eligibility for the grant?" the response states that: "Your business must be a commercially trading entity currently operating from a property that is commercial rateable." It does not say that the business owner has to be paying the rates. The rates are being paid. I understand the criteria to encourage people to pay rates and acknowledge people who actually pay rates, but these people have been paying their rates albeit indirectly, and now they are being penalised massively because of it. I ask and plead with the Department officials, who I know are listening to this debate this morning, to find a way so that if the rates have been paid, the grant is allowed to be paid to the business owner who is struggling. It should not be beyond the bounds of human ingenuity to allow that to happen.

There is another issue I wish to bring up with the Minister of State and Department this morning. In some instances, people did not for whatever reason apply for the increased cost of business, ICOB, grant. They forgot about it and did not do it or were away and missed the deadline. I understand they also now cannot apply for the power-up grant because part of the criteria is that they must have received a second payment of the ICOB. Again, it should not be beyond the bounds of possibility for the Department to find a way to allow these people to actually do that. The date of 8 November is a tight deadline. Perhaps one thing to do would be to move that and give it another week.

It is hugely important that the Department has some kind of helpline so people can ring up if they run into these blockages. The local authorities are saying it is not their problem and that they are only administering the scheme. There is nobody to talk to, however. The Department could have a helpline people could ring to talk to a human and say they have a problem they wish to discuss to find a resolution. Getting back to my main point, however, if the rates have been paid honestly, fairly and upfront, even though it is indirectly, surely we can find a way to make the money available to the business that actually made the money available, even though it was done through the landlord.

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