Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is more than welcome. It is great to have him in the Chamber. I realise it is a very busy morning and there was a Cabinet meeting. This Commencement matter relates to the increased cost of business, ICOB, scheme, which is a welcome scheme announced in the budget last year. It meant we were going to put €250 million into small business throughout Ireland. It was a significant package and meant that we were going to give rebates of up to €5,000 to the majority of small businesses. It was really welcomed by the business community itself.

I had the pleasure of meeting the majority if not all of the business owners in Bandon, Kinsale, Clonakilty and Skibbereen to go through the applications and inform them how the scheme actually works. It is a simple scheme requiring the submission of a minor application to one's local authority. The payments were to become available towards the end of April or at the start of May at the earliest but, unfortunately, that has not been the story in County Cork. Over 5,000 applications have been made but the majority of them have not been approved yet. My office is inundated by businesses that have been waiting for this money for the past six to eight weeks. There seems to be no real understanding of what the issues are.

Two weeks ago, they got a communication from their local authority asking them to confirm that the classification of their business was correct. This was a simple notification sent out two weeks ago. I have absolutely no idea why it was sent, but it was another delaying tactic from the local authority. There is potentially €25 million held in Cork County Council's account today that has not been paid to small businesses under pressure. I believe the Minister's Department has even paid them a fee to work through the paperwork, so there is potentially more money gone to the local authority regarding this.

The small businesses are absolutely frustrated that this organisation, which hounds them for rates on a continuous basis, will not pay them the grant that is applicable to them. The money from the Minister's Department has gone to the local authority but the small businesses cannot access it. They are now trying to survive in very trying circumstances when it comes to business itself. We need to get clarity regarding where this actual grant is going at the moment. Is the money sitting in a bank account? Has the Department paid the local authority a fund in order that it can work through this process? When will these applicants actually get the funding?

There were over 5,000 applications in County Cork. We are looking at a potential sum of up to €25 million going to these businesses and they are absolutely frustrated that the local authority seems to be the issue when it comes to making the payments. The majority of other local authorities have made the payments. Why is Cork County Council lagging behind? I ask the Minister to give me an update on where we are at the moment. How much has been paid out? What do we need to do? At the moment, it just is not working and, unfortunately, small businesses are really feeling the pain as a result of what Cork County Council has failed to deliver.