Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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198. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment further to Parliamentary Question No. 141 of 10 March 2021, if he will give further consideration to issues raised in additional correspondence from a company (details supplied) in Dublin 11; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20157/21]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I have received several items of correspondence on behalf of the company to which you refer. I appreciate that businesses are making enormous sacrifices at the moment to help protect their communities.

The Government has put in place a comprehensive package to help businesses and workers during the pandemic, including the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS), the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP), the COVID-19 Restrictions Support Scheme (CRSS), low-cost loans, the deferral and warehousing of tax liabilities and the waiver of commercial rates.

At an early stage of this crisis, it became apparent that the impacts on economic activity were going to remain with us for much longer than originally anticipated. It also became clear that many businesses were incurring costs such as rent, rates, insurances, maintenance, security and other utilities, on an ongoing basis without the ability to generate the revenues required to meet these costs. Most of these costs are associated with the running costs of a premises, while for businesses without a fixed premises, fixed costs will likely be lower as a proportion of their total expenses.

I acknowledge that many businesses who do not trade from a commercial premises have been severely impacted and, for those individuals and businesses, Government has already moved to provide income supports in the form of the PUP and EWSS which are payable regardless of sector and are available to employees, sole traders and proprietary directors.

Our schemes are there to help meet fixed costs that cannot be avoided and to provide basic weekly income support up to a maximum of €350 per week. We are not providing compensation for loss of personal income above this level or compensation for loss of profits for any sector.

Along with my Government colleagues, I am keeping the range of COVID support measures under review.

Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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199. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment his plans for SMEs whose turnover is under €50,000; if funding aid will be provided for them during Covid-19 restrictions given that they cannot avail of same and do not meet the criteria for funding schemes currently in place; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20164/21]

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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As you are aware, the Government has put in place a comprehensive package to help businesses and workers during the pandemic, including the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS), the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP), the COVID-19 Restrictions Support Scheme (CRSS), low-cost loans, the deferral and warehousing of tax liabilities and the waiver of commercial rates.

You will also know that Budget 2021 provided a significant package of tax and expenditure measures to build the resilience of the economy and to help vulnerable but viable businesses across all sectors.

In relation to the eligibility requirement of €50,000 turnover, it is important to remember that the Small Business Assistance Scheme for COVID has been introduced to meet the unavoidable costs that businesses operating from a fixed premises incur whether they are open or not. Analysis carried out for similar schemes has shown that where annual turnover is less than €50,000, then it is likely that most costs will be payroll based. As you know, Government already provides subsidies or other income supports in the form of the EWSS and the PUP.

It is important to note that the schemes are there to help meet fixed costs that cannot be avoided and to provide basic weekly income support up to maximum of €350 per week. They are not created to provide compensation for loss of personal income above this level or compensation for loss of profits for any sector.

I would urge business owners to seek the supports available. I would also suggest they contact their Local Enterprise Office who can signpost them and advise them of supports that may be available for their business.

I want to assure you, however, the Government is consulting with business sectors and I am aware of their concerns and I and my colleagues across Government are continuing to keep the range of measures under review.