Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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103. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht her plans to extend supports to bed and breakfasts in 2021 in view of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and the lack of international tourists; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29882/21]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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Following the publication of the Government's Economic Recovery Plan, the following set of measures to provide support to businesses as they re-open and resume trading have been announced:

- The extension of the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme to 31 December 2021;

- The extension and enhancement of the Covid Restrictions Support Scheme to provide additional support to businesses upon re-opening and to give certainty to businesses still directly affected by public health restrictions;

- A new additional business support scheme (Business Resumption Support Scheme or BRSS) for businesses with reduced turnover as a result of public health restrictions to be implemented in September 2021;

- The VAT rate will now be maintained at 9% until September 2022;

- The extension of the tax debt warehousing scheme to allow the period where liabilities arising can be “warehoused” to be extended to the end of 2021 for all eligible taxpayers, with an interest free period during 2022, and to include overpayments of EWSS in the scheme;

These measures will provide certainty to businesses, including the B&B sector, as public health restrictions are lifted and allow them to plan for the future as they re-open and resume trading.