Ryan O'Meara (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)
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295. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he plans to engage with the business sector, particularly SMEs, following requests to introduce financial grants and tax relief for businesses following serious weather events to offset the revenue losses and additional costs faced in the wake of these weather events; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6168/25]

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Since my appointment as Minister of State with responsibility for Small Business and Retail, I have been closely monitoring the situation in relation to Storm Éowyn and its impacts on the business community through regular updates from the National Emergency Coordination Group and updates from Local Enterprise Offices in the counties with the most significant and prolonged impacts. In this regard, Government is acutely aware of the significant challenges that the impacts of Storm Éowyn has caused for business owners over recent weeks.

Following the immediate damage caused by the storm, many businesses were impacted by subsequent outages in relation to power, water and communications networks.

I would encourage businesses to in the first instance seek recourse through their insurance providers to cover losses incurred such as property damage, lost earnings and spoilage of stock that would fall within standard insurance cover.

My Department has in the past operated targeted Emergency Humanitarian Flooding Scheme in response to specific flooding incidents. These schemes are specifically targeted to providing a contribution to small businesses of up to 20 employees as well as community, voluntary and sporting bodies who have experienced damage as a result of flooding and to help them get back up and running. A condition of eligibility for these schemes is that the businesses must not have been able to secure flood insurance through no fault of its own.

The Programme for Government includes a commitment to an Extreme Weather Event Assistance Scheme, designed to support affected households, farms and businesses. This initiative predates Storm Éowyn and is a strategic policy action for delivery within the timeframe of the current Government.

While the full details of this scheme are still to be fully worked through, the broad aim should be to strengthen the existing assistance schemes already in place across a number of Departments.

The unprecedented impacts of Storm Éowyn require this initiative to be a high priority policy for the relevant Departments and in this regard, officials from my Department are progressing this policy measure as a matter of urgency.