Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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42. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of County Cork businesses that are likely to qualify for the increased cost of business grant; the discussions his Department has had with Cork County Council in relation to this; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5555/24]

Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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48. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment when the increased cost of business scheme will be rolled out to businesses and how local authorities will be advertising the scheme. [5665/24]

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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54. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment for an update on the roll-out of the increased cost of business scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5666/24]

John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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63. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of businesses in South County Dublin that are likely to qualify for the increased cost of business grant scheme; what discussions his Department has had with South Dublin County Council in relation to this; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5450/24]

Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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70. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment for an update on the supports available to businesses with the rising cost of energy in running a business, particularly those in the hospitality sector which has seen a number of closures recently. [5552/24]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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72. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of businesses in Dublin City that are likely to qualify for the increased cost of business grant scheme; what discussions his Department has had with Dublin City Council in relation to this; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5442/24]

Joe Flaherty (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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73. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of Longford businesses that are likely to qualify for the increased cost of business grant; the discussions his Department has had with Longford County Council in relation to this; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5507/24]

Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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83. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment when the increased cost of business scheme payments will be made. [5670/24]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 42, 48, 54, 61, 63, 70, 72, 73 and 83 together.

The Increased Cost of Business (ICOB) grant was announced as part of the Budget 2024 package and is intended to particularly benefit small and medium sized businesses who operate from a rateable premises. The grant is only available to businesses who operate from a rateable premises and will not be available to vacant premises.

The grant is intended to aid firms who have been affected by increases in business costs but is not intended to directly compensate for all increases in wages, or other costs, for every business, nor is it intended to be a specific response to increases in the minimum wage. The total allocation for the ICOB grant is €257m.

Officials within my department are leading the introduction of this scheme and are working in conjunction with the Local Authorities, the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA), the County and City Management Association (CCMA) and the Department of Housing, Local Government, and Heritage. A Service Level Agreement (SLA) is currently being drafted between my Department and the Local Authorities, to underpin the operation of this scheme. This SLA will cover the delivery, funding, and oversight arrangements for the grant scheme.

The administration of the ICOB will be carried out by Local Authorities and it is intended that the grant will be provided to qualifying firms in the first quarter of this year. It is not intended that there be a formal application process, rather it is intended that the business will be contacted directly by their Local Authority. It is also intended that each Local Authority will take steps to raise awareness of the grant within its own operational area. This will be addressed in the SLA that will be put in place to govern the roll-out of the scheme.

The grant scheme has been set up in this way to ensure that the scheme is accessible to smaller businesses, who may have had difficulties availing of previous schemes. However, there is no intention to limit the scheme in any way related to employee numbers.

In order to qualify the ICOB grant, a business must also, at a minimum, meet the eligibility conditions set out below:

Estimates undertaken by my officials suggest that the ICOB grant will be available to up to 143,000 businesses operating from a rateable premises, or approximately 95% of all commercially trading business premises nationwide. This estimates were developed by my Department using rateable valuations data provided by Táilte Éireann. However, the final number of qualifying premises may differ, as exclusions for vacant premises, non-rates compliant businesses and non-tax compliant businesses are considered as the scheme is implemented.

Subject to these considerations, it is estimated that the number of business premises who are potentially eligible for the grant in each Local Authority is as follows:

With regards to the specific query around energy supports, I would note that the ICOB is not specifically designed to offset rising energy costs. Previous schemes that were introduced in recent times to address rising energy costs include the Temporary Business Energy Support Scheme (TBESS) and the Business Users Support Scheme for Kerosene (BUSSK).

In terms of further supports for SMEs, the Local Enterprise Offices provides a suite of productivity and competitiveness supports to small businesses in the areas of Lean, Green and Digital. These include the Trading Online Voucher, Green for Business, and the Energy Efficiency Grant. The ‘All in a Day’s Work’ national campaign emphasises the benefits of these supports for businesses; namely saving them time, energy, and money.

The Government will continue to monitor what remains a challenging businesses environment and continue to support Irish businesses.