Local Authorities

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 8 September 2022

Thursday, 8 September 2022

Ceisteanna (29)

Fergus O'Dowd

Ceist:

29. Deputy Fergus O'Dowd asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the details on the total amounts of moneys awarded to Louth County Council by his Department in each of the years 2016 to 2021 and to date in 2022, in tabular form; if he will seek details on the total moneys drawn down and spent by Louth County Council over the same years, in tabular form, and, if not spent, the total moneys that were returned to his Department over the same years, respectively, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43517/22]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment

The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment provides funding through Enterprise Ireland’s Centre of Excellence to support the enterprise development function and staffing of the 31 Local Enterprise Offices, which are business units within the Local Authority structure.  The funding provided by the Department to Louth County Council from 2016 to date can be seen in the table below.

Allocation and payments to Louth County Council in respect of LEO Louth are set out in the table.

-	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	To Date 2022
Louth County Council Allocation by Enterprise Ireland (LEO Louth - Current & Capital)	856,031	784,899	886,236	999,203	2,524,413	1,899,416	1,222,063
Louth County Council Payments by Enterprise Ireland (LEO Louth - Current & Capital)	656,200	717,898	855,109	973,775	2,145,008	1,519,198	825,186

Separately, the Department also provided once off funding over 2020 and 2021 in support of the Restart and Small Business Assistance Scheme for COVID-19 as part of the response to the pandemic. A Service Level Agreement was agreed between the Department and the Local Authorities which allowed for the Restart and the SBASC Schemes to be administered by them. The funding provided for these schemes was allocated through Enterprise Ireland’s budget subhead to the Local Authorities.

The COVID-19 Restart Grant Scheme was introduced in May 2020 to provide financial assistance to businesses in a time of unprecedented uncertainty in a global pandemic. It was operated by the 31 Local Authorities on behalf of DETE. It closed to applications in October 2020 and was superseded by the Revenue CRSS Scheme. Restart provided €632m to nearly 108,500 businesses, with 3,049 businesses in County Louth receiving €18,263,573 in funding under this scheme.

The Small Business Assistance Scheme for COVID (SBASC), which was available for application from March 11th, 2021, through to November 12th, 2021, was approved by Government to assist viable businesses which were not eligible for the Revenue Commissioner’s CRSS scheme, and not eligible for sector-specific schemes in areas like tourism or the performing arts.  The funding provided by the Department to Louth County Council in 2021 to support this scheme totalled €511,000.