Chris Andrews (Dublin Bay South, Sinn Fein)
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10. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the timeline for the payment of the online trading vouchers scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44892/20]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Trading Online Voucher Scheme (TOVS) was designed to encourage and support small and micro-businesses in Ireland to trade online.

This scheme was developed by the (now) Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC) as part of the National Digital Strategy. This Strategy set out a vision and practical actions and steps to encourage and assist more citizens and small businesses to get online.

The original focus of the scheme was targeted at small and micro enterprises that were considered to be at risk of being left behind by the digital divide. The scheme was designed to be a catalyst for a change in behaviour of small business towards trading online.  As such, it was envisaged that the scheme would not support all business, but rather encourage a sufficient number to make the transition which, in turn, would drive an organic demand from the remaining businesses.

At the beginning of 2020 applicants had 9 months to complete their project. Lockdown restrictions in March 2020 highlighted the necessity of businesses having online trading capacity to generate sales resulting in a significant increase in the number of applications received by the Local Enterprise Offices. From 8 June 2020 new successful applicants had 4 months to complete their project. This condition pertained until the end of 2020.

The scheme was transferred to my Department which will operate the Trading Online Voucher scheme for 2021 and subsequent years in line with the terms and conditions and eligibility requirements. The claim period for a Trading Online Voucher has been increased to 6 months as of January 1 2021.