Pat Casey (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Without the Covid restrictions support scheme, CRSS, many businesses would have gone to the wall. We have engaged on this matter previously. I welcome the CRSS, but I have an ongoing concern. Businesses are relying on the CRSS, tax warehousing and many other measures that will collectively add to their problems down the road. The CRSS is allowing us to stay viable and keep our doors open while we park the losses we are making to be dealt with later. It is welcome from that point of view but, as I told the Minister of State the last time we spoke, there is no harmonisation or gradation of the payment. Either a business qualifies for the payment or it does not. The Minister of State said that we could be dealing with this situation for a further six or nine months. The CRSS needs to be reviewed and tweaked. It should not be the case that a business getting it is an either-or situation or that qualifying is based solely on access to premises. Under level 3, a restaurant can be open and, therefore, will not qualify even though it is only operating at half capacity. Will the Minister of State bring my suggestion to the Minister, Deputy Donohoe? Could we review the CRSS to make it more flexible? It is important to the business sector, but we can be more creative and flexible in how we make it available to businesses that need it to survive. We all know we are talking about next June. Businesses that are accumulating losses week after week need the CRSS to be reviewed and tweaked. The level of debt that is going into warehousing is worrying. All businesses will have to face them next September.