Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 9 December 2021
123. Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the supports his Department is providing for businesses and organisations within the experience economy that are continuing to struggle in the face of ongoing Covid-19 restrictions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60835/21]
View answerThe Government continues to support businesses through these challenging times and recognises the impact that the new measures will have on sectors such as hospitality, the arts and entertainment and the night-time economy sectors.
With this in mind, on Friday we announced a package of financial interventions for the hospitality, events and entertainment sectors. The package includes:
- a change to the CRSS or EWSS, details of which will be confirmed very shortly by the Minister for Finance
- an extension of the targeted commercial rates waiver at least until the end of March
- an extra €25 million from the Covid contingency fund applied to the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, in particular to assist the live entertainment, arts and performance sectors.
As the Deputy will be aware, the PUP has also been reopened for workers who lose their jobs or have lost their jobs as a result of the newly announced restrictions.
Details of existing supports can be found on my Department’s website: Government supports for COVID-19 impacted businesses - DETE (enterprise.gov.ie). For further details on the new scheme and the changes to the Pandemic Unemployment Payment please refer to the Department of Finance and the Department of Social Protection.
Government policy remains that there will be no cliff edge to the support. All business supports are being kept under review to ensure that they are timely and target those that need them the most.
