Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party)
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26. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the supports that are available to businesses to undertake energy audits to assist them in driving down their energy costs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45101/22]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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It’s clear that this is a really challenging time for enterprise. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has driven energy costs to unprecedented levels. Faced with higher energy prices many companies are looking for ways to bring their costs down. While ultimately this will mean a move away from fossil fuels and towards more sustainable, cheaper alternatives, improving energy efficiency can lead to immediate savings. It reduces a company’s exposure to energy price volatility and improves their climate resilience.

An Energy Audit voucher is available to many businesses from the SEAI. The Support Scheme for Energy Auditspays for a high-quality energy audit for SMEs that spend more than €10,000 annually on energy. There is also a range of energy efficiency modules on offer through the SEAI Energy Academy– a free, online e-learning platform designed and curated by Ireland's leading energy experts. The first step to achieving greater energy efficiency is for businesses to gain a better understanding of their current usage.

The Climate Toolkit 4 Businessalso provides a clear and accessible starting point for any business, pointing them to enterprise-specific climate action resources, including energy efficiency measures. Businesses can save their results and then monitor their performance over time.

The new Energy Monitoring and Tracking Systemsscheme is aimed at energy intensive businesses who are manufacturing clients of Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland and Údarás na Gaeltachta. It helps them begin to measure and reduce their energy demand, while also accounting for the carbon footprint of their activities. Funded under the Enterprise Emissions Reduction Investment Fund, it offers businesses 50% grants of between €5000 and €50,000 toward the installation and commissioning costs for hardware equipment.

Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party)
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27. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment his plans to support SMEs through the spike in energy costs precipitated by the conflict in Ukraine; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45100/22]

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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28. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the supports that his Department is considering for small and medium enterprises in view of the escalating energy costs on these businesses; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45119/22]

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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30. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the supports that will be introduced for businesses in the face of escalating energy costs. [44887/22]

Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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34. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment his Department's planned supports to help businesses with the ongoing energy crisis in Europe; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45051/22]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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35. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the measures that will be introduced to support small and medium enterprises, with particular reference to the increasing energy costs and the difficulties arising for such businesses; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44920/22]

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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41. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will outline the assistance that the Government plans to give to small businesses that are struggling due to increased costs such as energy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44729/22]

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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49. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the different mechanisms available to his Department to support SMEs with the rising cost-of-energy crisis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45055/22]

Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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54. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the way that he is helping businesses to address the increase in costs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45161/22]

Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent)
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57. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the measures that he proposes to take to support small businesses dealing with escalating electricity costs. [45155/22]

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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62. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment his plans to support small and medium-sized enterprises in the current cost-of-living crisis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45002/22]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 27, 28, 30, 34, 35, 41, 49, 54, 57 and 62 together.

I think it is fair to say that this Government has not been found wanting when it has come to helping businesses get through difficult periods. The multi-billion euro financial assistance provided by Government during the pandemic was unprecedented, whether it was help with businesses’ wage bill so they could keep staff on, their overheads, the introduction of a cheaper, easier way to restructure and survive than examinership; the commercial rates waiver, or the reduction in VAT for the hospitality sector.

I'm very conscious of how worried businesses are now going into the winter and their concerns around energy costs. Unfortunately, Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is having massive consequences for the whole of Europe, not just Ireland.

We are working on new proposals to help businesses with rapidly rising energy prices and I hope to be able to make a positive announcement about that in the Budget.

We’ll also be looking to raise awareness around energy efficiency, helping businesses reduce the amount of energy they use in the first place and improving take-up of the approximately 20 different schemes we already have in place for business.

For example, in June we announced a new €55 million ‘Green Transition’ fund to help businesses move away from fossil fuels and towards more sustainable, cheaper alternatives.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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29. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment his engagement with other Departments regarding the use of renewable energy sources for businesses given the rising energy costs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45145/22]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I am acutely aware of the challenges many businesses are facing, and will face, from the rising cost of energy. We know that these costs are largely driven by a spike in the cost of natural gas, following from Russian's illegal and deplorable invasion of Ukraine. Russia has since demonstrated that it is willing to use its role in global energy markets as a further weapon to disrupt the unity of the European Union and those that share our objectives.

The best way to counter this threat is to diversify our energy sources and reduce our energy use where possible. In Ireland we are well positioned to move to renewable energy sources, thereby mitigating the cost and increasing our security of supply. I and officials in my Department have been engaging across Government on efforts to facilitate businesses reduce their energy costs through the use of renewable energy. With electricity prices high, the cost saving available from using rooftop solar power or other renewables on-site has never been greater.

The Micro-generation Support Scheme (MSS) will provide capital grants for non-domestic applicants for solar PV installations up to 6.0kW primarily for self-consumption, with grant levels up to a maximum of €2,400 available. This will be administered by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) and will become available in late September. Businesses that use a large amount of electricity will benefit most when they consume electricity on site from their own micro-generation. Residual electricity can be sold back to the grid under the Clean Export Guarantee (CEG) tariff. The financial business case for micro-generation for high electricity users is already strong, with short payback periods based on self-consumption and export payments alone. This year the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) is consulting on an implementation plan for the Clean Export Premium (CEP) tariff, a guaranteed export tariff support for businesses where they invest in new installations greater than 6.0kW up to 50kW in size, which is fixed for 15 years.

The Climate Action Plan further commits to the development of a support scheme for 'small-scale generators' (SSG) above 50 kilowatts and below 1 megawatt to support the deployment of rooftop and ground-mounted solar PV that is expected to come into effect in 2023.

SEAI have a new Energy Contracting Support Scheme which provides financial assistance to help businesses and public sector organisations to deliver energy efficiency and decarbonisation projects through Energy Performance Contracts (EPCs). This can help businesses optimise their savings from the use of on-site renewables and efficiency measures.

The SEAI have also reviewed the Support Scheme for Renewable Heat, which can remove the gap between the installation and operating costs of renewable heating systems, such as heat-pumps, and the conventional fossil fuel alternatives.

Earlier this year, myself and Minister Ryan launched the Climate Planning Fund for Business, which will give businesses funding to come up with a personalised plan to identify how save energy and remove reliance on fossil fuels in their business. Alongside this the Enterprise Emissions Reduction Investment Fund provides capital funding for transformative decarbonisation investment in our manufacturing sectors, which will be amongst the businesses facing highest energy costs.