Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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487. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if there will be a similar grant to the restart grant available through local councils for SMEs that is not conditional on being registered for commercial rates in view of the fact not all small business have rate registered premises due to the fact so much business is conducted online and many businesses do not require physical premises; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9491/20]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Application forms for the new €250m Restart Grant providing direct grant aid to micro and small businesses are now available online on all local authority websites.  The grant is a contribution towards the cost of re-opening or keeping a business operational.

To qualify for the Restart Grant, a business must be in a rateable premises and;

- have a turnover of less than €5m and have 50 or less employees,

- have suffered a projected 25%+ loss in revenue from 1 April 2020 to 30th June 2020,

- commit to remain open or to reopen if it was closed.  The business must also declare the intention to retain employees that are benefitting from the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS).

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

The Restart Grant support is just one part of the wider €12bn package of supports for firms of all sizes, which includes the wage subsidy scheme, the pandemic unemployment payment for the self-employed, grants, low-cost loans, write-off of commercial rates and deferred tax liabilities, all of which will help to improve cashflow amongst SMEs. 

Full details on all COVID19 supports for business are available at: