Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 117 and 123 to 125, inclusive, together.

I recognise the issues faced by all sectors of the economy due to rising costs, including SMEs operating in the hospitality sector. A variety of supports have been made available to businesses in recent years, including through the Temporary Business Energy Support Scheme (TBESS), the Business Users Support Scheme for Kerosene (BUSSK) and the Ukraine Enterprise Support Scheme. In addition, many rateable premises will have benefited from the commercial rates waiver scheme that was in place from 2020 to the first quarter of 2022.

The Increased Cost of Business (ICOB) grant was announced as part of the Budget 2024 package, with an allocation of €257m. It will be particularly targeted at Small and Medium sized businesses who operate from a rateable premises. The grant is intended to aid firms who have been most affected by increases in business costs but is not intended to directly compensate for all increases in wages, or other costs, for every business.

My Department is leading the introduction of this scheme, working in conjunction with the Local Authorities, the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA), the County and City Management Association (CCMA) and the Department of Housing, Local Government, and Heritage. Service Level Agreements (SLA) are currently being drafted between my Department and the Local Authorities to underpin the operation of this scheme. These will cover the delivery, funding, and oversight arrangements for the grant scheme and this process is expected to conclude shortly.

The administration of the grant will be carried out by Local Authorities with a view to providing relief in the first quarter of this year. Businesses will be contacted directly by their Local Authority. The grant has been set up in this way to ensure that the scheme is accessible to smaller businesses, who may have had difficulties availing of previous schemes.

A business must, at a minimum, meet the following eligibility conditions:

• It is a commercially trading business operating directly within a premises that is commercially rateable by a Local Authority.
• It has provided confirmation of its bank details to the respective Local Authority.
• It is rates compliant, including those businesses with a phased payment arrangement in-place.
• It is tax compliant, and in possession of a valid Tax Registration Number.

Data analysis was undertaken by my officials, based on data provided by Tailte Éireann, to estimate the number of potentially eligible businesses. With regards to each requested local authority, this analysis estimated that up to 2,385premises in County Cavan, 2,318premises in County Monaghan, 3,473premises in Galway City, and 4,285premises in County Galway could be eligible for the grant. However, the final number of qualifying premises may differ, as exclusions for vacant premises, non-rates compliant and non-tax compliant businesses are considered.

As an additional measure, I fully welcome the announcement made by the Minster for Finance last week to reduce the interest rate applying to warehoused tax debt to 0%. Revenue have also confirmed that it will provide businesses with every possible flexibility in managing the payment of their warehoused debt, including the level of down payment and extended payment duration, having regard to the circumstances of each individual business. In addition, Revenue has confirmed that, where a business has already paid warehoused debt, which was subject to interest at 3%, it will get a refund of that interest.

The Government will continue to monitor what remains a challenging businesses environment and continue to support Irish businesses.