Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Over recent years, the Government has deployed a wide array of supports to assist Ireland’s enterprise sector with shocks ranging from Brexit to COVID-19, to supply change disruption and to rising energy costs associated with the crisis in Ukraine. These measures have included a number of non-repayable grant, tax waiver or tax rebate cashflow support schemes for business. These include the Covid-era Commercial Rates grant and waiver schemes, the Restart Grant, and Small Business Assistance Scheme for Covid (SBASC); the Temporary Business Energy Support Scheme (TBESS); and the Ukraine Enterprise Crisis Scheme. In addition, the Business Users Support Scheme for Kerosene (BUSSK), launched in September 2023, provides assistance to businesses impacted by significant increases in the cost of kerosene heating oil.

Furthermore, many of the measures brought forward as part of this budget by my colleagues Ministers McGrath and Donohoe have been specifically designed to cushion the impacts on SMEs from rapidly increasing energy costs, the cost of wages, inflation, the introduction of a living wage and other similar government-based initiatives.

In particular, the €250 million that has been allocated to the new Increased Cost of Business Scheme (ICOB)will provide a welcome relief and a cash injection to shops and small businesses, many of which are at the heart of our towns and main streets across the country.Whilst the full details of the payment are being finalised, it is intended that the payment will be tiered with grants of up half of the rates paid in 2023 by the businesses concerned. The grant payments will be made in early 2024.The aim of the ICOB scheme is to assist businesses in tackling the increasing costs of doing businesses arising as a result of rising input costs (including energy), the increasing cost of wages, inflation, and other factors. This scheme will be administered through the local authorities and will provide a targeted refund to approximately 130,000 micro and small businesses, equating to 87% of rated businesses and excluding all but larger businesses.

Additionally, taxation measures including the announcement of the new targeted Angel Investment Scheme, the increase in the rate of the Research and Development Tax Credit from 25% to 30% and changes in payment thresholds, changes to VAT thresholds to account for inflation, and changes to the Employment Investment Incentive Scheme are all welcome measures for business.