Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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193. To ask the Minister for Finance if employees resident in Northern Ireland but working and paying tax here are eligible employees under the employment wage subsidy scheme in cases in which their employers are resident in Northern Ireland. [11280/21]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) was legislated for under the Financial Provisions (Covid-19) (No. 2) Act 2020. The scheme is an emergency measure to deal with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the economy and to deliver an enterprise support to employers based on business eligibility delivering a per-head subsidy on a flat rate basis.

The EWSS is only available to employers registered in Ireland whose business activities are adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In relation to eligible companies who are registered as employers here, the scheme applies to companies resident for tax purposes in the State and also to non-resident companies that carry on a trade in the State through an Irish branch. I understand you are referring to the latter category, being companies that are not tax resident in the State, but which are operating here through an Irish branch.

I have been advised by Revenue that employers can claim the subsidy in respect of any employee who is exercising an Irish contract of employment in the State, and where the employer satisfies the conditions of the scheme.