Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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95. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of trading online voucher scheme applications approved to date in 2021 in County Mayo; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30172/21]

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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The Trading Online Voucher Scheme offers a 50% co-funded voucher of up to €2,500 to help businesses, which have been trading for at least 6 months, to develop their online trading capability and includes training sessions that cover various topics, including developing a website, digital marketing, social media for business and search engine optimisation.

This Trading Online Voucher Scheme has been a crucial support for businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic and will continue to assist businesses with digitalisation and developing their online presence.

From 1 January 2021 to 26 May 2021 the Trading Online Vouchers Scheme had a total of 122 applications in Mayo which led to 120 approvals to a value of €259,500. This builds on the very successful year of figures from 2020 in Mayo with 527 applications and 438 approvals to a value of €1,016,854.32.

Joe Flaherty (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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96. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of businesses in counties Longford and Westmeath that have availed of the Covid-19 credit guarantee scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30043/21]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The COVID-19 Credit Guarantee Scheme (CCGS) is the largest loan guarantee scheme in the history of the State.The Scheme provides €2 billion in lending, for terms up to five-and-a-half years and offers a range of lending products between €10,000 and €1 million at interest rates below market rates for similar type loans.  It is available to SMEs and small mid-caps (business with less than 500 employees), including primary producers (businesses engaged in the farming and seafood sectors).  The Scheme is available until 31 December 2021 following a Government decision in March to extend it in line with the extension of the European Commission’s Temporary Framework on State Aid.

In order to provide the public with relevant data on the performance of the scheme, my Department publishes weekly and monthly reports on its website.  These reports provide data on loans drawn under a wide variety of themes and are available at enterprise.gov.ie/en/Publications/COVID-19-Credit-Guarantee-Scheme-Performance-Reports.html.

As at 20 May:

- 29 businesses in County Longford have availed of the CCGS and have drawn loans with a value of €1,168,551

- 47 businesses in County Westmeath have availed of the CCGS and have drawn loans with a value of €2,453,538.

The Scheme is currently available through three commercial banks, six non-bank lenders and nineteen credit unions.  This long-term policy goal of diversification adds competition in the market and ensures a wide range of loan products are available throughout the regions.

I would strongly encourage businesses to avail of the low-cost lending facilities provided under the scheme as they look towards reopening.