Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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153. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the status of the operation of the trading online voucher scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22197/21]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Trading Online Voucher Scheme was originally launched in 2014 by the then Department of Communications, Energy & Natural Resources as part of the National Digital Strategy and was designed to encourage and support small and micro-businesses in Ireland to trade online.

In January of this year the policy, budget and operational responsibility for the scheme was transferred into my Department from the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications under  sanction from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform on the basis of a 50% own contribution by voucher recipients.   The period allowed for the completion and drawdown of funds  remains at 6 months.   Previous voucher recipients may continue to apply for a second voucher where upgrades are required.   Information and training seminars are available to prospective applicants to support them in their application process and it is a condition of applying for a voucher that an applicant attends one of the seminars in advance.  At each seminar, attendees are informed of the purpose of the scheme and how best to use and get value from the application of the voucher.

I am pleased to note that the scheme remains a popular support for Micro-Enterprises that wish to develop their e-commerce presence at this time with almost 1,600 applications to date this year.