Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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204. To ask the Minister for Finance the reason circuses and funfairs were explicitly excluded from eligibility for the Covid-19 restrictions support scheme as outlined on page 13 of the guidelines. [22708/21]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Covid Restrictions Support Scheme (CRSS) is a targeted support for businesses significantly impacted by restrictions introduced by the Government under public health regulations to combat the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The CRSS was announced in the Budget on 13 October 2020. The details are set out in Finance Act 2020 and guidelines on the operation of the scheme, including the eligibility criteria, are available on the Revenue website.

The support is available to companies, self-employed individuals and partnerships who carry on a trade or trading activities, the profits from which are chargeable to tax under Case I of Schedule D, from a business premises located in a region subject to restrictions introduced in line with the Living with Covid-19 Plan.

The scheme applies to businesses carrying on trading activities from a business premises located in a region subject to restrictions, which requires the business to prohibit or considerably restrict customers from accessing their business premises and as a result, is operating at less than 25% of turnover in 2019. For the purposes of CRSS, a qualifying “business premises” is a building or other similar fixed physical structure in which a business activity is ordinarily carried on.

The Bill defines Covid restrictions as those “restrictions provided for in regulations made under sections 5 and 31A of the Health Act 1947, being restrictions for the purpose of preventing, or reducing the risk of, the transmission of Covid-19 and which restrict certain business activity during the specified period”. These regulations make provisions in relation to specific locations e.g. county or region or can operate nationally as is the case currently. Therefore, it is appropriate that the scheme would provide assistance to businesses which operate in the restricted location and this is decided by the physical location of their premises.

Where a business does not ordinarily operate from a fixed business premises located in a region that is subject to restrictions, such as an events company or a circus, that business will not meet the eligibility criteria.

The vast majority of businesses in Ireland are affected by Covid but the CRSS is intended to target specific businesses where access is restricted. The CRSS is and was intended to be a targeted scheme, and was never meant to be a general support measure for the entire economy as the cost of such a scheme would be much more significant.

The CRSS is an additional measure for businesses in a region subject to significant Covid-19 restrictions. Businesses who do not qualify under this scheme may be entitled to support under various measures put in place by Government, including existing supports available under the COVID Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) and the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) and the range of measures announced as part of Budget 2021 to support particular sectors including Tourism and live entertainment. They may also be eligible to warehouse VAT and PAYE (Employer) debts and also excess payments received by employers under the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme, and the balance of Income Tax for 2019 and Preliminary Tax for 2020 for self-assessed taxpayers if applicable.

The Government will continue to assess the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the economy and I will continue to work with my Ministerial colleagues to ensure that appropriate supports are in place to mitigate these effects.

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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205. To ask the Minister for Finance if the stay and spend incentive which ran from October 2020 to April 2021 can be applied toward mobile home site fees; if the incentive will run again in 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23132/21]

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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215. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will consider extending benefits or the staycation supports to owners of mobile homes that face annual fees but have been unable to access their home due to level 5 restrictions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22959/21]

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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216. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will consider extending tax relief to owners of mobile homes that face annual fees but have been unable to access their home due to level 5 restrictions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22961/21]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 205, 215 and 216 together.

I believe that with regard to "staycation supports", Deputy Smith may be referring to the Stay and Spend Tax Credit scheme which terminated on 30 April.

While I recognise the significant difficulties that remain to be faced by the hospitality sector, the decision not to extend the scheme into the summer months was taken in the broad interests of taxpayers and having regard to the substantial supports that remain in place, including the reduced 9% rate of VAT and the EWSS and CRSS schemes. It is fair to say that that taxpayers' interests would not have been best served by such an extension in circumstances where it is likely that we will all be staying at home and hopefully holidaying in Ireland. It may be more appropriate to take stock again after a further period and assess then if the position needs to be reconsidered.

While in operation, the purpose of the Stay and Spend scheme was to provide indirect support to service providers. This included, amongst others, hotels, guest houses, holiday hostels, youth hostels, caravan and camping parks and self-catering properties registered with Fáilte Ireland. As regards the question raised by the Deputies, site fees payable by owners of mobile homes would not have fallen within the ambit of qualifying expenditure.

With regard to the possibility of other tax reliefs on fees payable by owners of mobile homes to service providers, I do not believe it would be equitable to introduce such a relief.

More generally also, I must be mindful of the public finances and the many demands on the Exchequer; tax reliefs, no matter how worthwhile in themselves, lead to a narrowing of the tax base. Under my Department's Tax Expenditure Guidelines, changes to measures should only be considered in circumstances where there is a demonstrable market failure and where a tax based incentive is more efficient than a direct expenditure intervention.