Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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158. To ask the Minister for Trade, Enterprise and Employment if supports have been considered for the self-employed and small businesses that do not qualify for the restart grant or the enterprise support grant; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24011/20]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The development and promotion of schemes to support incomes is the responsibility of my colleague, the Minister for Social Protection, Community and Rural Development and the Islands Ms. Heather Humphreys, T.D.  

While every effort is being made by this government to identify and develop supports that will benefit the widest spectrum of our communities, the primary objective of my Department in tackling the challenge of COVID-19 is to assist businesses to re-open in a safe manner thereby supporting employees to return to their work. 

The Local Enterprise Offices operate nationwide as a ‘First Stop Shop’ for assistance and advice to people who wish to start, grow and recover their own business and  I would encourage business owners to contact their Local Enterprise Offices to enquire about any assistance they can avail of, noting that the Local Enterprise Offices do not provide direct grant-aid to areas such as retail, personal services, local professional services, construction/local building services, as it may give rise to the displacement of existing businesses. 

In response to the current health crisis, the LEOs have moved their training programmes, workshops and networking meet-ups online making them more accessible than ever. The LEOs' business mentors may be able to assist business owners, such as those mentioned, by identifying the appropriate assistance available to them such as:

- Micro-finance Ireland (MFI) COVID-19 Loans, if the impact of COVID-19 has resulted in a reduction of 15% or more in turnover or profit, and the business is unable to secure finance from banks and commercial lending providers, the MFI COVID-19 Business Loan may be an option to help the business. These loans can be used for working capital or changes required by the business to manage COVID-19. MFI offers support in the form of business loans from €5,000 to €25,000, with 0% interest and zero repayments for the first 6 months and the business will receive a government rebate on interest paid in the following 6 months. If you apply for a COVID-19 loan through your LEO, the interest rate after the first 6 Months will be at a reduced rate of 4.5% APR.  MFI Loans typically have a 3-year loan term, with fixed repayments, no penalty for early repayment and no fees or charges.

- The Trading Online Voucher scheme (TOVs), an initiative under the Government's National Digital Strategy that is actively promoted by the Local Enterprise Office on behalf of the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment. 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.

On Monday the 14th of September I visited Kildare and announced a Scheme aimed at helping small businesses most acutely impacted by Covid-19 Restrictions. The Micro-Enterprise Assistance Fund will help businesses with fewer than 10 employees, which are ineligible for existing grants, with a grant of up to €1,000 to help them adapt and invest to rebuild their business. About 2,000 businesses nationwide will benefit and businesses can apply through their Local Enterprise Office.

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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159. To ask the Minister for Trade, Enterprise and Employment if targeted financial supports will be established for small pubs which cannot open or will not be economically viable under the Covid-19 guidelines and restrictions. [24175/20]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Government has authorised the reopening of pubs which do not serve food (so-called "wet pubs") on 21st September next after discussions with NPHET subject to strict regulations on social distancing and hygiene.

However, given concern over the incidence of COVID-19 in Dublin, and based on NPHET’s recommendations, the Government has agreed that "wet pubs" in the County should remain closed beyond 21 September.

The Government accepts that there are ongoing costs that pubs face over and above those of other businesses.In that regard the Government introduced a range of measures to support pubs, bars and nightclubs on 28th August, which amount to a further €16 million support package, recognising the economic impact of Covid-19 on their businesses and to assist planning and adaptation for their re-opening.

This €16 million package is in addition to the range of measures announced for businesses, including pubs, in the July Stimulus Package, which is a substantial financial package to stimulate our economy worth more than €5 billion, with an additional €2 billion in loan guarantees.

Those pubs, bars and nightclubs that remain closed to help them to reopen will now receive 40% top-up to the Restart Grant Plus. Therefore, businesses remaining closed and planning their re-opening can now receive a minimum of €5,600 and a maximum of €35,000 under the Restart Grant Plus. This can be used to help additional expense and adaptations associated with re-opening when the time comes.

Further measures include:

- Waiver of court fees and associated excise and stamp duties relating to the renewal of pub and other liquor licenses in 2020; and,

- Waiver of excise duty on on-trade liquor licenses on renewal in 2020.

These measures are in addition to the existing Restart Grant Plus, Tourism Adaptation Fund, the wage subsidy scheme, commercial rates waiver, liquidity supports and tax measures (such as warehousing of tax debt and reduction in VAT).

As regards liquidity measures, such as the COVID-19 Loan Scheme by Microfinance Ireland, I am aware that many small businesses are reluctant to take on debt, but would nevertheless emphasise that the terms and conditions of these loans are significantly more favourable to small business borrowers than loans from commercial banks. The fact that the first of these loan schemes is now fully subscribed and a second loan scheme has been launched attests to the fact that many small business owners are aware of these favourable conditions.

I launched the new Credit Guarantee Scheme on Monday 7th September, which is part of the Government’s suite of supports for businesses that have been negatively impacted as a result of the outbreak of COVID-19 in Ireland, the COVID-19 Credit Guarantee Scheme will facilitate up to €2 billion in lending to eligible businesses.

The Scheme offers a partial Government guarantee (80%) to participating finance providers against losses on qualifying finance agreements to eligible SMEs, small Mid-Caps and primary producers.

It is designed to incentivise participating finance providers to continue to play their role in supporting the availability of additional liquidity to Irish businesses.

Loans under the Scheme range from €10,000 to €1 million, for terms of up to five-and-a-half years. Financing will be offered through a range of products, including term loans, working capital loans and overdrafts. Loans of up to €250,000 under the Scheme are available unsecured (except where this is a requirement of the product feature, as in the case of asset finance, invoice discount facilities, etc).

The Government will continue to work with representative organisations and sectoral interests on finding solutions which conform with public health guidelines.