Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Increased Cost of Business Grant (ICOB), announced as part of Budget 2024, will be targeted at Small and Medium sized businesses who operate from a rateable premises. Firms who do not have a rateable premises are not within the scope of this scheme. The total allocation for this scheme is €250m

It is important that I be clear that this scheme is a once-off grant aid provision and not a commercial rates waiver. It will have no bearing on the commercial rates paid by firms. Firms should continue to pay their commercial rates as normal.

The grant will be paid through local authorities and will be paid in the first quarter of next year. It is envisaged that the grant will be issued without the need for an application process. The grant is intended to be paid at a rate of up to half the enterprise’s commercial rates bill, subject to a prescribed limit and the grant will be based on the commercial rates that firms were billed in 2023. 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.

I am conscious that many smaller rateable premises may have had greater difficulty negotiating the application process for previous schemes such as the Temporary Business Energy Support Scheme (TBESS). With the ICOB, however, it is envisaged that the administrative burden for firms claiming this relief will be minimal.

My Department will continue to work with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and the Local Authorities to finalise the details of the grant and I am planning to bring a Memo forward in due course.