Written answers

Tuesday, 14 July 2020

Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

Enterprise Support Services

Photo of Catherine MurphyCatherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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79. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if business support policies can be reviewed to provide greater help to microbusinesses that contribute to the national economy on a smaller scale but to the local community on a bigger scale than many other businesses; if he will give consideration to reviewing wage subsidies for casual staff in view of the fact that longer operating hours are now required and wage subsidies should be proportionate to new working hours as opposed to looking at pre-Covid-19 payments; if he will give consideration to offering more direct grants for businesses stay afloat until the end of the Covid-19 emergency as opposed to grants for hiring business consultants; if he will give consideration to offering restart grants to cover the additional costs for trading during the Covid-19 emergency, such as PPE, sanitiser and screens; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15646/20]

Photo of Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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As stated in the Programme for Government, we will bring forward a July Stimulus shortly to support our economy and help restore employment. Our focus is to support the viability of the business and to get people back to work as quickly as possible in all sectors including the hospitality sector.

Helping our SMEs is central to this, given their pivotal role in the economy and employment. The July Stimulus will extend, enhance and add to the existing measures totalling €12bn in supports for Covid-19 impacted businesses already announced.

These measures include direct grants and supports such as the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS), the €250m Restart Grant Fund, liquidity supports such as 0% finance for 6 months from MicroFinance Ireland, rates waivers from local authorities and warehousing of tax liabilities of SMEs by Revenue.

These supports are predominately focused on our SMEs, who have been hardest hit by the COVID-19 Pandemic.

We are reviewing the future of the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS). As the public health restrictions are eased, the challenge for the economy, SMEs and all businesses is evolving. Work is currently on-going around how best to continue to support employers into the more medium term, including consideration of support for temporary seasonal workers and new hires.

The launch of the €250m Restart Grant on the 22 May last is an example of how we are providing support for the costs of restarting a business, including to meet the costs of refitting of premises to meet health and safety requirements. The Restart Grant provide a direct payment to local businesses of between €2,000 to €10,000 to help them meet the costs of reopening.

The range of supports available from my Department and across Government are designed to build confidence, to further assist businesses in terms of the management of their companies and to allow them to begin looking to the future and start charting a path forward for weeks and months ahead. For a full list of supports for business please see .

The full range of Enterprise Ireland, Local Enterprise Office (LEO) and Údarás na Gaeltachta grant and advisory supports continue to be available to eligible firms to help with strategies to access finance, commence or ramp-up online trading activity, reconfigure business models, cut costs, innovate, diversify markets and supply chains and to improve competitiveness.

In that regard, Government will continue to explore funding potential for all enterprises including micro-enterprises as they work through the challenges facing them, including through any mechanisms allowable through the EU’s state aid framework.

The Covid-19 Loan, available from Microfinance Ireland (MFI), was introduced as a support to microenterprises to help them access funding arising from the Covid-19 crisis and is working successfully. In under three months, MFI has approved Covid-19 loans of over €14.3 million, which is more than double the value of total loans approved for the entire year in 2019.

These loans are available for eligible microenterprises responding to Covid-19-related difficulties, the negative impact of which must be a minimum of 15% of actual or projected income or profit. Loans up to €50,000 are available with terms that include a six months interest free and repayment free moratorium, with the loan to then be repaid over the remaining 30 months of the 36-month loan period.

An interest rate to 4.5% applies on the Covid-19 loans provided by MFI. This reduced rate is available to all micro-enterprises where the application is made through the Local Enterprise Network or referred by a bank or Local Development Committees. The new rate for direct applications to MFI is reduced to 5.5%.As these loans are available interest free for the first six months, the net effect is to further reduce the net interest rate payable over the period of the loan.

The Covid-19 Working Capital Scheme is offered in cooperation with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, and is supported by the InnovFin SME Guarantee facility. The scheme is operated by the SBCI.

It currently makes available a fund of up to €200 million to eligible businesses that have been negatively affected by impacts arising from the outbreak of Covid-19 to enable those businesses to innovate, change or adapt in response to the current business environment. Following a further announcement, work is now under way on a significant expansion to this Scheme.

The scheme is open to eligible SMEs and small mid-caps (businesses of up to 499 employees) negatively impacted by Covid-19. Loans under the scheme range from €25,000 to €1.5m and are for periods of up to three years. The maximum interest rate under the scheme is 4% and loans of up to €500,000 are available unsecured.

The Trading Online Voucher Scheme is funded by the Department of Communications Climate Action and Environment and delivered nationwide in partnership with my Department, Enterprise Ireland and the 31 Local Enterprise Offices. There has been a tremendous demand for the scheme from enterprises across the country since its expansion and I am pleased that it provides a grant of up to €2,500 to cover up to 90% of the cost for a business going online.

My colleague and former Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Heather Humphreys T.D., announced on the 8th of June an additional funding of €14.2m for the Scheme bringing the total funding allocation in 2020 to €19.8m. This additional funding will allow LEOs to approve additional vouchers to successful applicants. The Scheme offers skills training, mentoring and financial support of up to €2,500 to help small and micro-businesses to develop their ecommerce capability. New flexibilities to the Scheme were introduced in April including reducing the requirement for co-funding from 50% to 10% and allowing businesses to apply for a second voucher of up to €2,500 where they have successfully utilised their first one. There has been a positive response to these changes and significant uptake of the Scheme.

Continued support for high-potential start-ups and the wider entrepreneurship base remains critically important to underpinning the growth and recovery of Irish enterprise. Through my agency’s support for High Potential Start-Ups, Seed and Venture Capital funding, the Competitive Start Fund and New Frontiers Programme, Enterprise Ireland continues to deliver strong support for entrepreneurs and early stage companies.

My former colleague, the then Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Regina Doherty announced on 25 June that the Department’s Enterprise Support Grant will be made available to assist self-employed recipients who are exiting the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) scheme with a once-off grant of up to €1,000 to re-start their business. The grant will be payable to self-employed micro enterprises which employ fewer than 10 people, have an annual turnover of less than €1 million and are not eligible for support from the COVID19 Business Restart Grant or other similar business reopening grants.

I can assure the Deputy that I will continue to work with my colleagues across Government and with all stakeholders, to examine all such appropriate business supports to assist microbusinesses impacted by Covid-19.

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