Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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101. To ask the Minister for Finance if a person (details supplied) can be considered as part of a review; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8996/23]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Details of the Temporary Business Energy Support Scheme (TBESS) are set out in Finance Act 2022. The scheme provides support to qualifying businesses in respect of energy costs relating to the period from 1 September 2022 to 28 February 2023 and is available to tax compliant businesses carrying on a trade or profession the profits of which are chargeable to tax under Case I or Case II of Schedule D where they meet the eligibility criteria.

Businesses consisting of self-employed individuals, partnerships or companies may be eligible for payments under the TBESS.

The TBESS operates by reference to bills for the metered supply of natural gas and electricity. It is available to eligible businesses whose average unit price of electricity or gas has increased by at least 50% for the relevant billing period between September 2022 and February 2023, as compared with the average unit gas or electricity price in for the corresponding reference period in the previous year. Where this threshold is met, payments will be made to qualifying businesses on the basis of 40% of the amount of the increase in eligible electricity or natural gas costs between the bill amount which is the subject of the claim and the bill amount in the corresponding reference period in the previous year.

The TBESS legislation provides, in respect of the metered supply of electricity or gas, that the electricity or gas bill should be provided or made available by an electricity or gas supplier to an eligible business. The legislation also requires that the electricity account or gas connection should be held by the eligible business who uses or consumes the electricity or gas.

A business that does not hold an energy account, and therefore does not receive bills directly from an energy supplier, will not be able to make a claim for payments under the TBESS because the business does not meet the qualifying criteria.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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102. To ask the Minister for Finance the amount of funding allocated for the SBCI loan schemes under the Supplementary Estimate for 2023; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9131/23]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI) began lending in March 2015. By the end of December 2022, the SBCI had supported lending of €3.4 billion to more than 53,000 SMEs, from all sectors of the Irish economy and across a wide geographical spread.

The SBCI has a number of schemes launched and in development to help release further funding to support suitable projects. These include the Growth and Sustainability Loan Scheme, the Energy Efficiency Loan Scheme, the Ukraine Credit Guarantee Scheme and the Residential Retrofit Scheme.

Three Government departments allocate funding towards the operation of these loan guarantee schemes; the Department of Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (DETE); the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM); and the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC).

I have been informed that none of the three departments have sought a supplementary allocation in 2023 in respect of SBCI loan schemes to date.