Marc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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98. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will review the rules governing the temporary wage subsidy scheme as they apply to a company (details supplied) in County Leitrim; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11237/20]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS) was legislated for in section 28 of the Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Covid-19) Act 2020. 

The TWSS is an emergency measure to deal with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the economy.  Of necessity, the underlying legislation and the scheme itself were developed really quickly, having regard to the urgent Government objective of getting much needed financial assistance to employers and employees, where businesses have been seriously affected by the pandemic and the necessary restrictions introduced to fight the spread of the Covid-19 virus.  It cannot be tailored to meet every individual set of circumstances for either employers or employees. 

The TWSS necessarily builds 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. 

Revenue advise me that the business in the instance raised by the Deputy does not meet the eligibility criteria for the TWSS at employer level and, thus, is not a position to qualify for the scheme.