Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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459. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the reason a business (details supplied) was refused a business support grant; if he will review this decision; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2025/25]

Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Both the Increased Cost of Business (ICOB) scheme and the Power Up grant were administered by local authorities on behalf of the Department and the Department is not involved in administering individual cases. Both the ICOB and Power Up schemes are now closed having paid out a total of over €400 million to SMEs right across the country.

In order to get payments to businesses before the end of 2024, the Power Up grant was aligned with the Increased Cost of Business (ICOB) scheme. A business must have received the second ICOB grant and be in the hospitality, retail and beauty sectors to qualify for the Power Up grant.

My Department is aware of issues that have arisen during the registration period, in particular, in relation to businesses that were ineligible for the grant due to incorrect classification of their business type while registering for ICOB. The Department is currently reviewing the issues that have arisen and will consider next steps in consultation with the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform and the local authorities.