Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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17. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the supports available to wholesalers that cater for the hospitality industry that has been severely impacted by Covid-19; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4316/21]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I am keenly aware that businesses are making a massive sacrifice to protect their communities and I am committed to ensuring that the Government will offer as much assistance and support as possible. My Department has worked to ensure that appropriate financial supports are in place for businesses that require finance as they develop their response to their exposure to impacts arising from COVID-19. The uptake of the schemes and grants available has been robust and indicates that businesses are taking action in response to this period of disruption.

Budget 2021 also provides a significant package of tax and expenditure measures to build the resilience of the economy and to help self-employed and vulnerable but viable businesses across all sectors, including second line supply businesses. We are providing for an extension of the tax warehousing scheme to include repayments of Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme funds owed by employers and preliminary tax obligations for adversely affected businesses.

To ensure that all self-employed taxpayers can benefit from the losses provision introduced in the July Stimulus, we are also providing that debt warehousing provisions be extended to include the 2019 balance and 2020 preliminary tax to allow such taxpayers to defer payment for a period of a year with no interest applying.

The Minister for Finance is also delivering on the Programme for Government commitment to equalise the Earned Income Credit with the PAYE credit by raising it by €150 to €1,650.

These measures are in addition to the July Stimulus of enterprise measures, which includes the Wage Subsidy Scheme extended through 2021, the Pandemic Unemployment Payment, grants, low-cost loans, write-off of commercial rates and deferred tax liabilities, all of which will help to improve cashflow amongst second line support businesses. COVID-19 Business Loans up to €25,000 are available through Microfinance Ireland. The loans can range from €5,000 to €25,000.

Bord Bia is providing a range of supports for impacted food business, including an information hub; training supports; and the introduction of the €1m COVID-19 Response Marketing Package for businesses to accelerate eCommerce and expand marketing activities in the context of rapidly changing trading conditions. Bord Bia continues to support quality assured Irish produce through promotion campaigns and is also supporting food companies to re-orient their produce to meet the needs of retail customers, and to explore any import substitution opportunities. My colleague, Charlie McConalogue, TD, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, may be able to provide more specific guidance on supports for the second line food supply businesses.

I'm aware that some businesses are not able to access CRSS and might be falling between the stools. I have asked my officials to work with the Department of Finance and other Departments to identify the type and number of businesses that fall outside the scope of CRSS and are not covered by other sectoral schemes, and to report back to me with proposals on how we could amend CRSS or develop a new scheme for those companies.