Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 18 October 2023
137. Deputy Emer Higgins asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the reason businesses with penal rates of €63,700 and €55,200 are excluded from the SME support scheme; how the Government intends to support major employment contributors, such as those in the hospitality sector, particularly in the face of the current cost of living crisis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45650/23]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Increased Cost of Business Grant (ICOB) was a measure announced as part of Budget 2024. The grant will be paid to Small and Medium sized businesses who operate from a rateable premises. It is intended to be paid at a rate of up to half the enterprise’s commercial rates bill, subject to a prescribed limit. The grant is intended to aid firms but is not intended to directly compensate for all increases in wages, or other costs, for every business.
The technical details underpinning the scheme and the mechanism for delivering the payment are currently being developed. My officials will work together with officials from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage will work together with the Local Authorities to finalise the details of the grant in the coming weeks.
It is important that I clarify that the scheme is a once-off grant provision and is not a form of commercial rates waiver, such as that present during the years 2020 to Q1 2022. In essence, the ICOB will have no bearing on the commercial rates paid by firms. It is also not intended to benefit multinational or larger firm. The grant will be paid through local authorities and will be paid in the first quarter of next year.
In establishing the conditions for providing supports to business, it is important to recognise that there are limited resources available to provide such supports. If the scheme were extended to larger ratepayers, provided on the same proportional basis to all firms, it would sharply reduce the benefit available to all ratepayers and would sharply reduce the benefit of this scheme to qualifying ratepayers.
Furthermore, it is important that this measure should not be looked at in isolation and should be considered in light of the range of supports that have been made available to business in recent years, with shocks ranging from Brexit to COVID-19, to supply change disruption and to rising energy costs associated with the crisis in Ukraine. These include the Covid-era Commercial Rates grant and waiver schemes, the Restart Grant, and Small Business Assistance Scheme for Covid (SBASC); the Temporary Business Energy Support Scheme (TBESS); and the Ukraine Enterprise Crisis Scheme. In addition, the Business Users Support Scheme for Kerosene (BUSSK), launched in September 2023, provides assistance to businesses impacted by significant increases in the cost of kerosene heating oil.
