Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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454. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation her plans to amend the criteria for the restart grant taking into account the needs of recently established businesses that might not have a rates evaluation for 2019; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8002/20]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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On Friday, May 15^th, 2020 the Government announced details of the new €250m Restart Grant providing direct grant aid to micro and small businesses to help them with the costs associated with reopening and re-employing workers following COVID-19 closures; with the grant being administered by local authorities from Friday, May 22^nd, 2020.

Eligible businesses who have stayed open throughout the crisis, as well as those who are reopening under Phase 1 (from 18^thMay) and Phase 2 (8^thJune) of the Government’s Roadmap for Reopening Society and Business, are encouraged to apply for the Restart Grant. These applications will be prioritised for payment by the local authorities.

To avail of the Restart Grant, applicants must be a commercial business and be in the Local Authorities Commercial Rates Payment System and:

1. have an annual turnover of less than €5m and employ between 1 to 50 people;

2. have suffered a projected 25%+ loss in turnover to end June 2020;

3. commit to remain open or to reopen if it was closed;

4. declare the intention to retain employees that are on The Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme and re-employ staff on the Pandemic Unemployment Payment as business recovers.

Subject to the qualifying criteria outlined above, any business that has a commercially rateable premises including those businesses with outstanding rates bills are eligible to make an application if they meet the criteria. The grant will be the amount of the rates demand in respect of calendar year 2019 only, subject to a minimum of €2,000 and a maximum of €10,000.

In the case of a recently established company, if the company is currently in a rateable premises but was not rate-assessed in 2019 it is still eligible to apply. The local authority can pay the grant based on an estimate of what the rates demand for 2019 would have been.

Applications for the Restart Grant can be made online directly to local authorities and further information is available on the application form. If there are queries that are not addressed on the application form, businesses can contact the Business Support Unit in each local authority.

The eligibility criteria will be subject to ongoing review and we will continue to take on board issues as they arise.

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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455. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the purpose of placing a 50% portfolio cap on the credit guarantee scheme; the portfolio caps on each guarantee scheme run by other EU countries in response to Covid-19 in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8014/20]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The new €2 billion COVID-19 Credit Guarantee Scheme forms a significant component of the Government’s strategy to aid SMEs in these difficult times by providing critical support to ensure businesses are facilitated in having access to credit facilities to assist a return to a more regular trading environment.

It will provide an 80% guarantee on lending to SMEs until the end of this year, for terms between 3 months and 6 years. The guarantee can be used for a wide range of lending products between €10,000 and €1 million that have a maximum term of 6 years or less. The implementation of this Scheme will require primary legislation, the drafting of which has been approved by Government, and my officials are already working with the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel on this drafting work.

My officials are also currently engaged with the European Commission in seeking approval for the Covid-19 Credit Guarantee Scheme and ensuring the Scheme's adherence to the rules set out in their Temporary Framework.

The Credit Guarantee Scheme operates using a portfolio approach whereby the entirety of a participating finance provider’s qualifying finance agreements in respect of which guarantees have been given will be treated as a single portfolio under this Scheme. The portfolio of each financial provider is subject to a percentage portfolio cap which is set in the Credit Guarantee Act, 2012, as amended. The portfolio cap under the current Credit Guarantee Scheme is 13%. It is currently proposed to increase the portfolio cap for the Covid-19 CGS to 50%.

An increase in the level of the portfolio cap will provide lenders with a higher incentive to offer facilities under the guarantee while at the same time the exposure to the exchequer and the risks associated with these loans will be shared between the Government and the financial providers.

Comprehensive information regarding the portfolio caps on each credit guarantee scheme developed by other EU countries is not publicly available as different countries do not always publish this information. I assure the Deputy that the scheme for Ireland has been designed to provide much-needed access to finance for a wide range of businesses which are currently under financial strain arising from the Covid-19 crisis.