€6.5BN REBOOT
Grant and rates aid for small firms Donohoe in boost ‘to build confidence’
THE Government yesterday announced a €6.5billion package of supports to help “reboot” the Irish economy as pandemic restrictions are slowly eased.
Ministers Paschal Donohoe, Heather Humphreys and Eoghan Murphy unveiled the plan a day after Leo Varadkar pitched his five-phase “road map” to recovery.
Following a special Cabinet meeting yesterday morning, Ministers agreed to:
A €10,000 restart grant for small businesses via a rates waiver/rebate
A three-month commercial rates waiver for impacted businesses
A €2billion pandemic stabilisation and recovery fund for investment
A €2billion purse for low-interest loans to stricken small businesses
The interest-free “warehousing” of tax liabilities for a period of 12 months, and
A top-up fund for councils to make up the rates shortfall.
Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said he hoped the measures would help business owners affected by the virus to begin “looking towards the future” again.
He added: “Covid-19 has created a world none of us could have imagined just a few short weeks ago.
“Our collective public health has been targeted; our businesses and our economy have been shouldered with an unimaginable burden and our society is grappling with this new reality.
MANAGEMENT
“This suite of measures is designed to build confidence, further assist businesses in terms of the management of their companies and allow them to begin looking to the future and start charting a path forward for weeks and months ahead.
“We will continue to seek the best ways of supporting our people, and wider society, and rebuilding our economy so that we can get people back to work safely.”
As part of the measures announced by the Taoiseach on Friday night, from May 18 the country will begin reopening in a “slow and phased way”.
Revenue has given a commitment there will be no debt enforcement taken and no interest charges accruing in respect of firms’ warehoused tax liabilities.
Mr Donohoe comfirmed the €2billion credit guarantee scheme and the €2billion tax deferrals will require new legislation to implement.
However, this will not be possible until a new government is formed, with the Taoiseach required to appoint 11 senators so the Seanad can pass the law.
Business, Enterprise and Innovation Minister Heather Humphreys said the economy had moved past the initial shock phase of the coronavirus crisis and was now in a stabilisation stage.
She added the new measures announced were to fund the third phase – “the reboot”.
Ms Humphreys added: “The roadmap announced by Government yesterday outlines a pathway to reopening our economy.
“This suite of supports represents the next phase in our ongoing response to support businesses through the pandemic and will assist them as they plan for the future.
“We now have a comprehensive suite of supports for firms of all sizes, which includes grants, lowcost loans, write-off of commercial rates and deferred tax liabilities, all of which will help to improve cashflow amongst our SMES.
“The new €250million Restart Fund in particular will be a critically -important tool to support small businesses in our towns and villages to reopen their doors and get back on their feet with supports of up to €10,000 available.”
Business umbrella group Chambers Ireland welcomed the “wideranging” financial supports and urged “rapid draw down” of the funds for its members. Group chief Ian Talbot said: “Our message has
We will seek the best way to support our people
PASCHAL DONOHUE
DUBLIN YESTERDAY
been that the risk of underreacting to these economic challenges is much greater than overreacting.
“Many businesses are facing huge challenges with liquidity and cash flow. Implementation of support is critical.”
Retail Excellence welcomed the roadmap but said some retailers will have been forced out of business for five months by the time they can reopen on August 10. The organisation called for local authority rates to be cancelled for 12 months, “exceptional” liquidity measures to boost cash flow and consumer spending incentives.
Meanwhile, economist Dan O’brien painted a gloomy outlook warning Ireland was facing
“depression territory” like “back in the 1930s”.
Speaking on RTE Radio One, he said: “There are serious people who are involved in the day-to-day running of this country, who are not having any input into the decisions.
“That is not a good thing. The people who are making the decisions come from one particular background, the medical profession. Medics must be front and centre but other expertise are needed and they are needed fast in the decisionmaking around this.
“The likelihood is death will be a bigger part of our lives. Now we need to think about how much risk there is. There are three million people in this country under the age of 45 – 14 have died. We take our chances on the roads.
We need to think about how much risk there is
DAN O’BRIEN ON THE FUTURE OF THE ECONOMY
EMERGENCY
“Around 1.3 million people die a year [globally] on the roads and no one suggests we should lock people down to save those lives.
“The Spanish flu killed millions of people, yet we hardly remember it. The Great Depression, 10 years later, was the turning point in the history of the 20th century.
“We are now going back on course for another depression. We need to weigh those risks into our decisionmaking.”