Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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797. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if dedicated sector-specific supports will be provided to the forestry sector in view of the impact of Covid-19 on same. [28588/20]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The Government has introduced a number of measures to make it easier for all businesses impacted by COVID 19 related issues to access finance. The COVID 19 Credit Guarantee Scheme is designed to incentivise finance providers to continue to support economic activity by providing liquidity and finance agreements to businesses. The Scheme is targeted towards businesses which have experienced an adverse impact of minimum 15% in actual or projected turnover or profit due to the impact of COVID 19 and have difficulties in accessing credit.

The CCGS will provide an 80% State-backed guarantee on bank lending to SMEs until the end of this year, for terms between 3 months and 6 years, i.e. the State will take 80% of the losses incurred on defaults. The CGS will be administered for the State by the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI) and SMEs will be able to go directly to the banks, and the guarantee can be used for a wide range of lending products between €10,000 and €1 million, for terms between 3 months and 6 years. It will be available to all SME sectors, including companies operating in the forest sector.

Furthermore, as part of the Government’s response to counter the economic impact of the coronavirus, the Brexit Loan Scheme was repurposed as the €250million Covid-19 Working Capital Loan Scheme, which is open to SMEs and mid-caps (i.e. up to 500 employees). An additional €125 million (bringing the total to €375 million) has been announced and is currently being put in place by SBCI.

The COVID-19 Business Loan from Microfinance Ireland supports small businesses through the current challenges and protect job creation and sustainment in Ireland. Businesses that have experienced a reduction of 15% or more in turnover or profit, and is unable to secure finance from banks and commercial lending providers can access the MFI COVID-19 Business Loan. Loans can be used for working capital or changes required by the business to manage COVID19. Loans of between €5,000 to €25,000 can be secured at an interest rate of 0% interest and zero repayments for the first six months.

These supports are, of course, in additon to the employment subsidy supports available to all employers in Ireland.