Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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357. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if his attention has been drawn to the business case made by postmasters that argued that post offices should have been categorised as retail outlets for the purposes of the power up grant; if this can be considered; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32182/25]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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As you are aware, the second payment of the ICOB grant and the Power Up grant were specifically targeted at businesses in the retail, hospitality and beauty sectors only. In order to classify business sectors for the second ICOB payment and the Power Up grant, the Department uses NACE codes to provide a comprehensive sectoral breakdown of the Irish economy. The NACE Coder is a European classification system that classifies organisations according to their business activities.

Post Offices are not eligible for the second payment of ICOB or the Power Up grant as their primary business is not in the retail or hospitality or beauty sector, as per the NACE Codes used to define business categories.

There can be no changes to the eligibility requirements for these grants at this stage.