The Government has worked to support businesses through these challenging times with a wide range of measures for firms of all sizes, which includes the wage subsidy scheme, business continuity and trading online grants, Restart Grants, COVID-19 Working Capital Scheme, the COVID-19 Credit Guarantee Scheme, the Future Growth Loan Scheme, commercial rates waivers and warehousing of tax liabilities. The breadth and variety of COVID-19 related schemes to support all kinds of businesses, but particularly small and medium enterprise, through the pandemic has been unprecedented, and their design and delivery has very much been a priority for the Government.
The degree to which the assistance has addressed the challenges which businesses were facing is a matter of independent evaluation to be undertaken at different stages depending on the provenance of and timeframes for individual schemes and may follow audits in some cases. In light of the further challenges which are posed by the war in Ukraine and its economic fallout in all EU Member States, I expect this to be a complex undertaking. On occasion, it may be challenging to untangle the impact of one economically disruptive event from the other.
Details of the supports can be found on my Department’s website: Government supports for COVID-19 impacted businesses - DETE (enterprise.gov.ie). I also publish an updated table on the uptake of the range of advisory and finance schemes on my Department's website, which sets out both closed and ongoing support schemes for the information of the public. I attach it here for the Deputy’s information.
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