Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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88. To ask the Minister for Finance if further consideration will be given to the application for the temporary wage subsidy scheme by a business (details supplied); the reason the business has been excluded from the scheme due to the fact it was closed for renovations on the designated date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11140/20]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by Revenue that the business in question does not meet the essential criteria for qualification for the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS) .

As I indicated in my reply of 3 June last to the Deputy’s previous question about the eligibility of the business concerned for the TWSS,  the legislation underpinning the scheme and the scheme itself were developed quickly, having regard to the urgent objective of getting much needed financial assistance to employers and employees.

For operability reasons, the TWSS had to build on data returned to Revenue through its real-time PAYE system. The core principles of the scheme are that:

-the business is suffering significant negative economic impact due to the pandemic,

- the employees in respect of whom the wage subsidy is claimed were included on the employer’s payroll on 29 February 2020, and

- the February 2020 payroll submissions were submitted to Revenue before, in general, 15 March 2020 but recently extended, by concession, to 1 April 2020. 

The latter two conditions were particularly designed with a view to preventing abuse of the scheme.

It is not possible to adapt the TWSS to provide bespoke arrangements to allow an individual employer avail of the scheme.