Written Answers Nos. 478-497
478. Deputy Michael Ring asked the Minister for Education if school transport will be provided to a pupil (details supplied) in County Mayo in view of the fact that two of their siblings are being provided with school transport; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25383/20]
View answerSchool Transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the 2019/20 school year over 120,000 children, including over 14,200 children with special educational needs, were transported in over 5,000 vehicles on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country covering over 100 million kilometres at a cost of over €219m in 2019.
The purpose of my Department's School Transport Scheme is, having regard to available resources, to support the transport to and from school of children who reside remote from their nearest school.
Under the terms of the Department's Post-Primary School Transport Scheme children are eligible for school transport where they reside not less than 4.8 kilometres from and are attending their nearest school/education centre as determined by my Department/Bus Éireann, having regard to ethos and language.
The closing date for applying for transport for the 2020/21 school year was Friday 24th April 2020. The closing date for payment for the 2020/2021 school year was Tuesday 4th August 2020. All children who are eligible for school transport and who applied and paid by the deadline have been accommodated on school transport services where such services are in operation.
Children who apply for transport and who are not eligible are considered for spare seats that may exist after eligible children have been facilitated; such seats are referred to as concessionary seats.
Bus Éireann, who operate school transport on behalf of my Department, has advised that the three children referred to by the Deputy are not eligible for school transport under the terms of my Department's Post-Primary School Transport Scheme as they do not meet the requisite distance criteria.
Applications for the older siblings had been rolled over from the previous school year and these children have been accommodated on the transport service in question. Bus Éireann has confirmed that the application for the younger sibling was late.
Late applications/payments for Post-Primary seats will be only considered when 50% capacity required by new Covid19 public health guidelines, is achieved on each route. The timeframe for this will vary from route to route and may take a number of weeks to complete.
479. Deputy Steven Matthews asked the Minister for Education the position of students that live in communal residential centres; if there is to be an outbreak of Covid-19 in that setting; and if there are provisions available to the students for remote learning or other means to lessen the disruption as much as possible to their education. [25437/20]
View answerThe Department acknowledges that there will be cases where individual pupils or groups of pupils are requested by Public Health HSE to self-isolate or restrict their movements because of a case or cases of COVID-19. Schools should, at a minimum, endeavour to support these pupils to catch up with their learning on their return to school. In some instances, where adapted education provision is already being provided to other pupils in the school, it may be possible for pupils who have to restrict their movements to avail of that adapted provision. In the event of pupils being required to not attend school because of a partial or full school closure, it is crucial that all schools make every effort to support pupils’ learning during the closure period.
The Department of Education has issued guidelines to schools on how to support pupils who are unable to attend school because they are at high risk from Covid-19 . These guidelines on “Continuity of schooling: Supporting primary pupils who are at very high risk to COVID-19” are available at https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/a0bff-reopening-our-primary-and-special-schools/#additional-guidelines-and-procedures . This guidance also outlines how schools can ensure that pupils who are self-isolating receive appropriate support to engage adequately with learning by means of adapted education provision. This decision should be made at local level by each school in the context of the needs and circumstances of their pupils.
480. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Education if there will be a bespoke plan including the option to receive predicted grades for current sixth years that have started their final year in abnormal conditions and after losing much on-site education time from their fifth year. [25459/20]
View answerOn 21 August, I announced a series of changes that would be made to assessment arrangements for both Junior Cycle and Leaving Certificate examinations for 2021. This announcement was accompanied by a published document detailing these changes, Assessment Arrangements for Junior Cycle and Leaving Certificate Examinations 2021, and forms part of the Roadmap for the Full Return to School.
These arrangements are designed to take account of the disrupted learning experienced by students during the 2019/20 school year and to factor in for some further possible loss of learning time in the 2020/21 school year as a contingency measure. As the loss of learning through school closures willhave affected students’ engagement with their course of study in different ways, the adjustments put in place will play to students’ strengths by leaving intact the familiar overall structure of the examinations, while incorporating additional choice. The adjustments have been arrived at through discussions between my Department, the State Examinations Commission (SEC) and the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) and key stakeholders. Additionally, briefs for coursework for subjects, including practical subjects, will be issued at least a month earlier in the school year to provide certainty for students.
These changes to the national assessment arrangements have been made with due regard for the principles of equity, fairness and integrity, as these principles apply to assessment and examinations and refer to student to-student, subject-to-subject, and year-to-year comparisons. The changes provide reassurance to students, their parents/guardians, teachers and schools.
Other documents published by my Department to support the return to school include Guidance for Practical Subjects in Post-Primary Schools and Centres for Education and Returning to school: Guidance on learning and school programmes for post primary school leaders and teachers. All documentation published is available on www.gov.ie/backtoschool .
The SEC has statutory responsibility for operational matters relating to the certificate examinations. The SEC intends to operate the 2021 examinations as normal, with appropriate contingency built in, in line with prevailing public health advice. There will be no change to the length of the written examinations. For subjects where the SEC issues project briefs during the 2020/21 school year, the intention is to generally issue these at least four weeks earlier than normal. For subjects with course work completion dates typically late in the school year, schools will be asked to submit this coursework two weeks earlier than normal as a contingency measure. In this context teachers are being encouraged to plan and undertake these projects as early as possible in the programme of study.
481. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for Education if her Department will allocate a teacher to a school (details supplied) for the remainder of the school year; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25468/20]
View answerThe key factor for determining the level of staffing resources provided at individual school level is the staffing schedule for the relevant school year and pupil enrolments on the previous 30th September.
The staffing process also includes an appeals mechanism for schools to submit a staffing appeal under certain criteria. The school referred to by the Deputy has been allocated a teaching post on appeal, pending confirmation of enrolments on 30th September.
The final staffing position will be confirmed in October once enrolments have been confirmed and the October meeting of the Primary Staffing Appeals Board has dealt with staffing appeals for the 2020/21 school year. As part of the appeal process the Appeals Board will consider appeals where schools clearly demonstrate how their enrolments were negatively impacted by COVID-19.
482. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Education if she will consider levelling up the 2019 leaving certificate grades in the context of the 2020 leaving certificate grade inflation, to remove disadvantages for the 20,000 students that did the leaving certificate in 2019 in order to create a level playing field (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25469/20]
View answerIn a normal year, Leaving Certificate candidates receive their provisional examination results in mid-August and the final Certificate is issued in the spring of the following year following the conclusion of the appeals process. It is not possible or appropriate to reopen this process.
The decision to adopt a model of Calculated Grades for the Leaving Certificate students of 2020 was a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which prevented the state from running the conventional Leaving Certificate Examinations. In the absence of the Leaving Certificate examinations in 2020 every effort has been made to make the Calculated Grades system as fair as possible for as many students as possible.
The design of the Calculated Grades model was informed by advice from a Technical Working Group comprising experts drawn from the State Examinations Commission, the Inspectorate of my Department, the Educational Research Centre and international external expertise.
The Calculated Grades model has teachers’ estimated marks at its core. It does not constrain the performance of a student to the average performance of the school. It identifies and fairly rewards stronger performing students in traditionally lower performing schools, provided schools have identified such candidates in their data. It also recognises the exceptional circumstances experienced by students in 2020 and prioritises fairness for the students of 2020 over eliminating grade inflation, while also noting that an element of grade inflation does typically occur from year to year. The Government decided that this was the fairest approach. The model allows for some grade inflation to occur but seeks to have results broadly comparable across schools and avoid uncontrolled or uneven grade inflation for students.
The CAO system for entry to higher education works on the assumption that grades obtained in the Leaving Certificate by candidates determine their points. It is on this basis that the CAO system allocates places to applicants, including those from different years.
For the 2020 CAO system to proceed to pave the way for entry to higher education for the majority of applicants within the current timelines, and in a manner than can be properly upheld, 2020 results and the results of leaving certificate examinations from previous years must be treated equally in the CAO system.
While CAO points for 2020 have by and large increased compared to 2019, the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science has worked closely with the higher education institutions to increase the number of third level places available for incoming first years, for all CAO applicants. This year the CAO received applications from candidates presenting Leaving Certificate results from 1985 onwards, not just those in 2019 and Calculated Grades results. Applicants to the CAO also present as mature applicants, those with further education qualifications, or those with other higher education qualifications.
In order to help mitigate the impact of the changes to the grading system, the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovaation and Science announced the creation of an additional 2,225 places on high-demand courses in Higher Education Institutions. This is in addition to other initiatives, such as the Human Capital Initiative, which increased the number of places available in Higher Education Institutions. These places resulted in the highest ever number of applicants receiving a CAO offers, with 53,815 CAO applicants receiving round one offers.
Some 80% of applicants received one of their top three level 8 choices in 2020, a proportion similar to other years.
Nonetheless, there were fluctuations in CAO points this year, as there are every year. These are dependent on the volume of applications, the number of applicants who meet the entry requirements, the number of places available and the grades received by applicants.
CAO applicants who have not received an offer they wish to take up may wish to look the Available Places facility, which allows for application to courses that have unfilled places remaining. Information on Available places can be found on the CAO’s website here: https://www.cao.ie/index.php?page=aboutVPL
There is also a wide range of options available in the Further Education sector, and more about these opportunities can be found on the Further Education and Training website www.thisisfet.ie.
483. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Education if a date has been set to publish a tender for a project (details supplied). [25475/20]
View answerThe building project referred to by the Deputy is being delivered under my Department’s Design and Build Programme which tenders to pre-established frameworks of D&B contractors.
The Decision to Grant Permission subject to 29 no. conditions was received on 14th September 2020 from Cork Co. Co for the project and the Departments Project Management team are currently reviewing these conditions and working on the preparation of the tender documents for the tender and appointment of a Contractor.
In parallel with this process, my Department is currently in the process of establishing 2 no. Frameworks of Design and Build Contractors to which Design and Build projects can be tendered. Once these frameworks are established, it is intended that this project will be tendered as soon as possible.
The Board of management and the school authorities will be kept informed as these parallel processes are progressed.
484. Deputy Alan Kelly asked the Minister for Education the up-to-date position on a new school project (details supplied) in County Kildare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25495/20]
View answerThe major project for the construction of the new school building for St Paul’s Secondary School, Monasterevin is at an advanced stage of the tender process. The Design Team has finalised its engagement with the preferred bidder and the preferred bidder is in the process of putting in place the required bond. It is anticipated that the supplementary tender report with the fully executed bond should be received in the Department shortly.
Subject to no issues arising, it is envisaged that construction will commence in the 4th quarter of 2020 with a contract duration of approximately 20 months.
485. Deputy Alan Kelly asked the Minister for Education the up- to-date position with the provision of a new school (details supplied) in County Kildare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25496/20]
View answer489. Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Education the status of the plan to provide a new secondary school for the Newbridge, Kildare and Curragh areas of County Kildare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25556/20]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 485 and 489 together.
The existing Curragh Post-Primary school is a multi-denominational community college under the patronage of Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board (KWETB).
My Department is satisfied that the needs in the area can be met through the replacement and expansion of the existing Curragh Post-Primary school with a new 1,000 pupil school building. It is intended that the expansion of the existing Curragh Post-Primary school will also cater for demand arising in the adjoining Newbridge and Kildare school planning areas. There is capacity in the existing Curragh Post-Primary school building pending delivery of the new school building.
I can confirm that the Department is currently finalising a site identification exercise in order to technically appraise suitable sites within the relevant school planning areas, for the post primary school to which you refer. This exercise has been progressed during the past months, in line with restrictions in place due to the Covid-19 pandemic, nevertheless, my officials have progressed the exercise to the point where final site selection is imminent. Further announcements will be made when it becomes possible to do so.
Due to obvious commercial sensitivities, I cannot elaborate any further at this juncture but please rest assured that the project is being given due consideration and attention.
486. Deputy Alan Kelly asked the Minister for Education the up to date position on a new school project (details supplied) in County Laois; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25497/20]
View answerThe major building project for the school referred to by the Deputy is included in my Department’s Construction Programme which is being delivered under the National Development Plan. The project is currently at Stage 1 of architectural planning which entails preliminary site surveys, location suitability and initial sketch scheme.
A review in 2019 of the demand for post-primary provision in the area resulted in an increase in the schedule of accommodation to cater for up to 1,300 pupils.
The Stage 1 report has just been received by my Department. Upon review, my Department will then be in contact with the school and its design team with regard to the further progression of the project.
488. Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Education the status of the new school building project for a school (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25555/20]
View answerThe major project for the construction of the new school building for St Paul’s Secondary School, Monasterevin is at an advanced stage of the tender process. The Design Team has finalised its engagement with the preferred bidder and the preferred bidder is in the process of putting in place the required bond. It is anticipated that the supplementary tender report with the fully executed bond should be received in the Department shortly.
Subject to no issues arising, it is envisaged that construction will commence in the 4th quarter of 2020 with a contract duration of approximately 20 months.
490. Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Education if a school (details supplied) will retain its sanctioned developing school posts despite a delay in meeting its enrolment threshold due to Covid-19 delaying the completion of house building in the area; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25557/20]
View answerThe key factor for determining the level of staffing resources provided at individual school level is the staffing schedule for the relevant school year and pupil enrolments on the previous 30th September.
However, the staffing arrangements for primary schools also includes the provision whereby schools experiencing rapid increases in enrolment can apply for additional permanent mainstream posts on developing grounds, using projected enrolment for the following September, in this case September 2020.
The school referred to by the Deputy has been allocated a teaching post on developing grounds, pending confirmation of enrolments on 30th September.
The staffing process also includes an appeals mechanism for schools to submit a staffing appeal under certain criteria, including a specific one for developing schools. Information on applications to the Primary Staffing Appeals Board is available in Circular 18/2020, published on the Department website.
491. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Education if a request for a SNA under a special exceptional review will be approved in the case of a person (details supplied). [25617/20]
View answerThe NCSE has responsibility for planning and coordinating school supports for children with special educational needs including the allocation of SNAs and reviews. My Department does not have a role in making individual school determinations. Accordingly, the question has been referred to the NCSE for direct reply.
The Special Needs Assistant (SNA) scheme is designed to provide schools with additional adult support staff who can assist children with special educational needs who also have additional and significant care needs. Such support is provided in order to facilitate the attendance of those pupils at school and also to minimise disruption to class or teaching time for the pupils concerned, or for their peers, and with a view to developing their independent living skills.
SNAs are not allocated to individual children but to schools as a school based resource. The deployment of SNAs within schools is a matter for the individual Principal/Board of Management of the school. SNAs should be deployed by the school in a manner which best meets the care support requirements of the children enrolled in the school for whom SNA support has been allocated.
It is a matter for schools to allocate support as required, and on the basis of individual need, which allows schools flexibility in how the SNA support is utilised.
Schools were notified of the arrangements for the allocation of SNA support in respect of students in mainstream classes for the current school year. The arrangements include the following provisions:
- 2019/20 mainstream class SNA allocations were frozen, from the date of issue of Circular 0030/2020, and have automatically rolled over into the current school year. This means that no school will receive an allocation less than that which they have on the date of issue of this Circular and existing SNAs currently in standard SNA posts were allowed to continue in these posts for the current school year in the normal way.
- A diagnosis of a disability, or a psychological or other professional report, is not be necessary for this process.
- The role of the SNA to support the care needs of students in mainstream classes, as set out in Circular 0030/2014, remains unchanged.
It is expected that schools will review and reprioritise the deployment of SNAs within mainstream settings and allocate resources to ensure those with the greatest level of need receive the greatest level of support. Providing access to SNA support continues to be based on primary care needs as outlined in DES Circular 0030/2014.
Schools may apply to the NCSE for additionality where they can demonstrate that the current allocation does not meet additional care needs within the mainstream classes in the school. Applications for additionality arising from significant new or emerging additional care needs, which cannot be catered within existing allocations, are dealt with by way of the exceptional review process.
The exceptional review process for mainstream allocations is available to schools throughout the current school year.
Detailed information on the NCSE exceptional review process is published on the NCSE website www.ncse.ie.
A school can appeal the outcome of an exceptional review and details of how to do this are here https://ncse.ie/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/GuidanceSchoolAppealing-Exceptional-Review-outcome.docx
492. Deputy Mairéad Farrell asked the Minister for Education if her attention has been drawn to the ongoing statutory non-compliance across the ETB sector in respect of the issuing of annual pension statements to employees (details supplied); and the steps which will be taken to ensure that this is rectified with immediate effect. [25649/20]
View answerThe Public Service Pensions (Single Scheme and other Provisions) Act 2012 provides for the issuing of annual benefit statements to members.
My officials have been liaising with their counterparts in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to clarify various pension issues peculiar to the work patterns in the education sector which impact on the provision of annual benefit statements. This work is ongoing.
Each Education and Training Board (ETB) is a separate statutory body that is responsible for managing its own affairs, which would include meeting its statutory obligations in respect of the issuing of annual pension statements to employees. The legislative base and accountability framework for ETBs is set out in the Education and Training Boards Act 2013.
In recent years my Department has provided additional financial resources to ETBs to put in place appropriate structures to progress matters in a number of areas including pension statements. I have been advised that a number of ETBs issued Annual Benefit Statements to a number of staff members in 2019 and all ETBs are committed to issuing further Annual Benefits Statements to staff members in 2020.
Each ETB has faced challenges in developing their payroll systems to produce Annual Benefit Statements for their members. Five ETBs have migrated their payroll functions to the shared payroll services for ETBs with a further two planned to move by year end. All remaining ETBs will migrate to shared payroll in the coming years and following that transition staff will be able to generate their own online benefit statements. My officials are committing to supporting ETBs in this work.
493. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Social Protection if the pandemic unemployment payment will be reinstated at the full rate per week for the highly skilled staff and businesses working in the live events sector that are anxious to return to work; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24906/20]
View answer502. Deputy Patricia Ryan asked the Minister for Social Protection if the pandemic unemployment payment will be reinstated at the full rate per week for workers in the live performance and events sector; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25587/20]
View answerOf the approximately 206,000 people in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) some 5,900 (or 2.8%) are members of the arts, entertainment and recreation sector. This represents a 58% reduction from 14,200 claimants in that sector at the peak in May. This reduction in the numbers of people in receipt of PUP is in line with reductions seen in other sectors and indicates that many people working in the sector have been able to return to work as the public health restrictions have been relaxed.
The Pandemic Unemployment Payment has been extended until 31st March 2020 which will provide support to sectors facing extended periods of closure, including the live performance and events sector. I have also secured approval to keep the scheme open to new applicants until the end of the year. This means that anyone who loses their employment over the coming months will be able to avail of the support.
Government has determined that from 17 September the pandemic unemployment payment will be paid at three rates. Individuals whose prior earnings were €300 or over per week will receive a payment of €300 per week. A rate of €250 will apply to those who earned between €200 and €300 and the rate of €203 remains unchanged for those with prior earnings of less than €200. The Department is advising recipients of the changes in rate and setting out the basis for the decision in each case.
These new rates will apply to all recipients. I do not think it would be fair to make exceptions for those who had previously worked in the live performance and events sector, while applying the changes to the majority of recipients who have worked in other sectors.
I trust this clarifies the matter.
494. Deputy Matt Shanahan asked the Minister for Social Protection her views on whether it is regretful that the Government has failed to legislate for the areas examined by the Duffy-Cahill report in view of the difficulties being faced by workers of a company (details supplied); her plans to conduct a thorough review of the report; if so, when the review will commence; when legislation will be brought forward; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25051/20]
View answer495. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Social Protection when legislation will be published to implement the recommendations of the Duffy Cahill Report; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25099/20]
View answer501. Deputy Emer Higgins asked the Minister for Social Protection her plans to implement the Duffy Cahill report and employers' levy; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25470/20]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 494, 495 and 501 together.
The Duffy Cahill report, which was commissioned by the Government in the aftermath of the Clery's closure, highlighted how the issues raised by the event and the subsequent legal cases are highly complex.
The Duffy-Cahill Report was sent to the Company Law Review Group (CLRG) in 2016 for its consideration as part of the work of that group in advising the Minister for Business Enterprise and Innovation on any changes that it considered necessary with respect to the protection of employees and unsecured creditors. (The CLRG is a statutory body comprising members drawn from regulatory, legal, business and employee interests).
The CLRG, as part of its deliberations, also considered related amendments proposed by Deputy Nash (then Senator Nash) to the Companies (Accounting) Bill in April/May 2017.
The CLRG's ‘Report on the Protection of Employees and Unsecured Creditors’ was presented to the Minister for Business Enterprise and Innovation in June 2017 and published on the website of the CLRG. It did not include the implementation of the Duffy-Cahill Report or the Senator Nash proposals in its recommendations.
It is clear that the implementation of the recommendations in the Duffy-Cahill Report give rise to a host of complex issues and that any proposal to progress them would require further careful consideration involving consultation with many stakeholders.
The intention of this Government, as set out in the Programme for Government’s commitments regarding employee protections is to:
- Review whether the current legal provisions surrounding collective redundancies and the liquidation of companies effectively protect the rights of workers;
- Review the Companies Acts with a view to addressing the practice of trading entities splitting their operations between trading and property with the result being the trading business (including the jobs) go into insolvency and the assets are taken out of the original business;
and
- Examine the legal provision that pertains to any sale to a connected party following the insolvency of a company, including who can object and the allowable grounds of an objection.
Further consideration of the employment rights and company law context, and any subsequent, necessary legislation, will be progressed in due course by the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mr Leo Varadkar T.D.
Finally, I would add that during a recent Dáil Debate on the Private Members’ motion concerning the Duffy-Cahill Report, a number of Deputies proposed the introduction of a ring-fenced insolvency fund, such as exists in certain other European Member States, that would support payments due to workers laid off by an insolvent company. The proposed fund would, it is suggested, be financed by a levy on employers' Pay Related Social Insurance contributions.
As was conveyed during that debate, I believe this is an interesting proposal, worthy of detailed and serious consideration. A similar proposal was made recently by ICTU to the Minister of State, Deputy English. I look forward to Government considering the proposal with the input of ICTU and that of other informed parties. It has to be acknowledged that the proposal will have some obvious challenges that would necessitate wider consideration, not only across Government, but among stakeholders such as employers who would be asked to pay into the fund at this difficult economic period.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputies.
496. Deputy Ged Nash asked the Minister for Social Protection the estimated additional revenue that would be raised by adjusting the level of social insurance contributions for self-employed workers class S PRSI from 4% to 5.75% and 7.5%, respectively; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25122/20]
View answerThe estimated additional revenue that would be raised by adjusting the rate of the social insurance Class S contribution for self-employed workers from 4% to 5.75% and to 7.50% respectively would be €230m and €465m respectively.
This estimate does not take into account any possible changes in self-employed worker behaviour arising from increasing the rate of the Class S PRSI contribution. Nor does it take into consideration any of the impacts arising from the measures being taken to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
497. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Social Protection the reason a self-employed person (details supplied) who went on maternity leave on 17 February 2020 and who was not as result eligible for the pandemic unemployment payment is now being refused the enterprise grant for small businesses although they made the necessary upgrades to their business to allow them to reopen in August 2020; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25266/20]
View answer570. Deputy Joe Carey asked the Minister for Social Protection the status of the new €1000 enterprise support grant; the number of self-employed persons that have availed of this support to date; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25620/20]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 497 and 570 together.
The enterprise support grant was extended to assist eligible self-employed individuals who exit the COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment or jobseekers schemes after 18th May 2020 to re-start their business which was closed due to the impact of the pandemic. As of Friday 18th September, there have been 1,940 grants approved by my Department.
The grant, of up to €1,000, is payable to sole traders which employ fewer than 10 people, have an annual turnover of less than €1 million and are not eligible for support from the COVID 19 Business Restart Grant or other similar business reopening grants. Funding of €12 million has been provided for this grant.
My officials are contacting the applicant referred to by the Deputy to review her grant application.
A self-employed individual who closes their Pandemic Unemployment Payment is encouraged to send their grant application, available on www.Gov.ie , to their local Intreo Centre.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputies.
