Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 5 November 2020
63. Deputy Michael Lowry asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if the restart grant scheme and restart plus scheme is available to community pharmacies whose retail business excluding dispensary and medicinal business has reduced by 25%; if clarity will be provided on the restart grant scheme and restart plus scheme for the community pharmacy sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34520/20]
View answerThe Restart Grant Plus was introduced with the aim of helping small and medium-sized businesses with the costs associated with reopening and reemploying workers following COVID-19 closures. Government is aware that businesses that had to close their premises or had a serious downturn in business because their premises were not safe for employees and customers would have suffered significant losses during the early stages of the pandemic and would also have incurred ongoing costs in addition to the costs associated with reopening and adapting their premises to make them suitable for workers and customers.
The Restart Grant schemes are administered by the 31 Local Authorities across the country on behalf of my Department, with applications assessed in line with the eligibility criteria as set out by the Department. In that regard, the criterion related to loss of turnover applies only to the business as a whole. It is not possible to segment the component parts of a business for turnover purposes.
Community pharmacies satisfying all the eligibility criteria, like all such businesses, have been welcome to apply to the scheme. In line with the published criteria, the Scheme closed to new applications on 31 October 2020. However, it is open to a business to contact their Local Authority to discuss their individual applications further.
