Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I regularly meet and discuss concerns with members of the business community, labour representatives and other enterprise stakeholders. Officials from my Department as well as the Ministers of State and I, have had ongoing engagement with the business community and its wider stakeholders in relation to the impact of rising energy costs on businesses. Fora where the cost of doing business and energy costs have been discussed with the business community include:

- the Labour Employer Economic Forum on the 7th of September which I attended along with the Taoiseach;

- the SME and State Bodies Group on the 13th of July which I chaired with the Minister for Finance;

- the Enterprise Forum which I chaired on the 29th of June;

- the Retail Forum chaired by Minister of State for Business, Employment and Retail, Damien English on the 8th of June; and

- the Hospitality and Tourism Forum chaired by myself and Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin TD on the 12th of September.

My Department has taken a leading role in the Government response to rising energy costs, working closely with the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications, who coordinate the whole of Government response via the Energy Supply Emergency Group on which my Department is represented. In particular, my Department convenes the Business Energy Users Sub-group which was set up to assess the impacts of rising energy costs on businesses and to help inform the Government response. This includes business representative groups, as well as officials from my Department and the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications, Enterprise Ireland, and IDA Ireland.

I am very conscious of the scale of the energy crisis, and the impact it is having on business energy costs. With this in mind, a significant package to help businesses with escalating energy costs and to plan for the future was announced in Budget 2023.

This package includes the Temporary Business Energy Support Scheme, which will provide qualifying businesses with up to 40% of the increase in electricity or gas bills - when compared to last year - up to a maximum of €10,000 per month. This is intended to aid small businesses most and will be administered by the Revenue Commissioners. The scheme will be backdated to September and will run until at least February 2023. Through supporting businesses in meeting rising energy prices, this scheme will help protect the jobs of those working in impacted sectors.

In addition, there is a new Growth & Sustainability Loan Scheme, which will make up to €500 million in low-cost investment loans of up to 10 years available to SMEs, with no collateral required for loans up to €500,000. A minimum of 30% of the lending volume will be targeted towards Environmental Sustainability purposes.

The reduced rate of VAT on gas and electricity from 13.5% to 9% has been extended until the 28th February 2023. We are also raising 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 existing schemes that we already have in place for business to help them reduce their energy costs. These include the Green4Micro programme and the Climate Toolkit for Business.

Additionally, small businesses can currently receive an energy audit voucher from SEAI to get professional advice on how to increase efficiency and reduce their costs. Other financial assistance includes the SEAI Community Grant and grants for microgeneration.

I would also encourage any businesses seeking assistance to contact their Local Enterprise Office. The Local Enterprise Offices act as a ‘first stop shop’ for providing advice and guidance, financial assistance, and act as a ‘signposting’ service for all government supports available to business owners throughout the country. Further information on the available business energy assistance can be found on my Department’s website: Energy supports - DETE (enterprise.gov.ie)

The Government will keep the energy situation under constant review, and we will continue to examine what measures are possible to manage the impact of rising energy prices.