Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 3 June 2020
98. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Finance if assistance will be provided to a business in relation to an operational matter relating to the temporary wage subsidy scheme (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9263/20]
View answerThe TWSS is an emergency measure to deal with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the economy. Of necessity, the underlying legislation and the scheme itself have been developed very quickly, having regard to the overarching urgent Government objective of getting much needed assistance to employers and employees, where businesses have been seriously affected by the pandemic and the necessary restrictions introduced to fight the spread of the Covid-19 virus.
The scheme is designed to taper support to nil where an employer pays normal wages. In addition, it does not apply where the employer pays overtime in addition to normal wages to its employees.
The TWSS cannot be tailored to meet every individual set of circumstances for either employers or employees. The core principles of the scheme are that the business is suffering significant negative economic impact due to the Covid-19 pandemic, that the employees were on the payroll at 29 February 2020 and that the employer had fulfilled its PAYE reporting obligations for February 2020 before 1 April 2020. The scheme is predicated on the employer wanting to keep the employees on the payroll and to retain them until business picks up. The employer is expected to make best efforts to maintain the employee’s net income as close as possible to normal net income for the duration of the Subsidy period. There is, however, no minimum amount that the employer must pay as an additional payment in order to be eligible for the scheme, but for Revenue operational systems reasons the employer will need to enter at least €0.01 in Gross Pay when running its payroll.
