David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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99. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the measures being put in place to help business move online during the Covid-19 crisis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16127/20]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Trading Online Voucher Scheme (TOV) is a scheme which forms an integral part of the National Digital Strategy. In that context, my colleague, Minister Eamonn Ryan, Minister for Communications has responsibility for policy matters related to the scheme including the eligibility criteria and funding.

Nevertheless, in recognition of the increased demand for the scheme as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, my Department has recently contributed €7 million towards the Scheme to ensure that the scheme is adequately capitalised to meet the surge in demand from eligible applicant companies.

The TOV scheme assists small business owners to move to an online trading platform where they could potentially increase domestic sales and their export capability. 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.

In recognition of the increased demand for the scheme and as a further assistance to microenterprises, the scope of the TOVs scheme was expanded to offer financial assistance of up to €2,500 with a reduced co-funding contribution from businesses from 90% to 10%. The Scheme also contains a training and advice module for potential applicants.

On the 8th of June the Government announced additional funding of €14.2m for the Scheme bringing the total funding allocation in 2020 to €19.8m. This additional funding allowed LEOs to meet current demands for the Scheme. In addition, new flexibilities to the Scheme were introduced in April including allowing businesses to apply for a second voucher of up to €2,500 where they have successfully utilised their first one. To date over 7,000 applications have been received for the vouchers.

For enterprises with over 10 employees, Enterprise Ireland administers the COVID-19 Online Retail Scheme. The objective of the scheme is to support companies in the indigenous retail sector which have started an online journey which will have the most immediate impact enabling them to respond to both the domestic and international consumer demand with a competitive online offer.

On 2nd July, I announced the successful applicants approved for funding through the COVID-19 Online Retail Scheme. 183 retailers have been approved for €6.5 million in funding as part of the scheme, almost three quarters of the successful applicants are located outside Dublin with 130 retailers from the regions approved for funding.

The value of the scheme, which received 373 applications, was increased from €2 million to €6.5 million due to the high level of demand amongst retailers and the high quality of the proposals received. The Scheme helps Irish-owned retailers to strategically enhance their online sales capabilities, so they can be more competitive, sustain jobs and subsequently scale their businesses in international markets.

Under this COVID-19 competitive call, the successful applicants will receive funding ranging from €16,000 to €40,000 to strengthen their online offering. The average grant value is €35,500. Enterprise Ireland will be opening a 2nd Call under the COVID-19 Online Retail Scheme in the coming weeks.