Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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252. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of cost-of-doing-business grants processed by his Department by 6 February 2024, by county, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6245/24]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Increased Cost of Business (ICOB) grant was announced as part of the Budget 2024 package and will be particularly targeted at Small and Medium sized businesses who operate from a rateable premises. The grant is intended to aid firms who have been most affected by increases in business costs but is not intended to directly compensate for all increases in wages, or other costs, for every business.

Firms who do not have a rateable premises are not within the scope of this scheme, nor are vacant premises. The total allocation for the ICOB grant is €257m.

My Department is leading the introduction of this scheme, 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. Service Level Agreements (SLA) are currently being drafted between my Department and the Local Authorities to underpin the operation of this scheme. These will cover the delivery, funding, and oversight arrangements for the grant scheme.

My Department is not administering payments directly, rather the administration of the grant will be carried out by Local Authorities with a view to providing relief in the first quarter of this year. Businesses will be contacted directly by their Local Authority. The grant 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. There is no intention to limit the scheme in any way related to employee numbers.

A business must, at a minimum, meet the following eligibility conditions:

• It is a commercially trading business operating directly within a premises that is commercially rateable by a Local Authority.
• It has provided confirmation of its bank details to the respective Local Authority.
• It is rates compliant, including those businesses with a phased payment arrangement in-place.
• It is tax compliant, and in possession of a valid Tax Registration Number.