Grace Boland (Dublin Fingal West, Fine Gael)
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223. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of applications Fingal County Council received for the Power Up grant in 2024; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8816/25]

Grace Boland (Dublin Fingal West, Fine Gael)
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224. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of applications for the Power Up grant deemed eligible for support by Fingal County Council in 2024; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8817/25]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 223 and 224 together.

In total, the Increased Cost of Business (ICOB) and Power Up grant schemes paid out 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 ICOB scheme and a business must have received the second ICOB grant and be in the hospitality, retail and beauty sectors in order to receive the Power Up grant.

In relation to Fingal County Council and the Power Up grant, there were 1435 applications and Fingal County Council paid out € €5.7 million to 1429 businesses under this scheme.

Albert Dolan (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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225. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment when the appeals process for the Power Up grant will be opened; and if his Department has provided any guidelines for applicants on how to submit an appeal. [8865/25]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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In total, the Increased Cost of Business (ICOB) and Power Up grant schemes have paid out over €400 million to SMEs right across the country. Both schemes are now closed.

In order to get payments to businesses before the end of 2024, the Power Up grant was aligned with the ICOB scheme and a business must have received the second ICOB grant and be in the hospitality, retail or beauty sector in order to receive 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.