30% ofemployersin Louthmakinguseof governmentscheme

WITH 30% of Louth’s employers making use of the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme, the county has the joint highest percentage of businesses in the country using the initiative to keep workers on the books.

The Revenue figures have been welcomed by Labour’s jobs spokesperson Ged Nash TD.

“In March, I called for the Government to introduce a wage subsidy scheme, as first proposed by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions.

“Since then, I have successfully argued for some anomalies within the scheme to be addressed, particularly for low-wage workers who ironically were earning less than working under the TWSS than if unemployed, and for businesses who were late to upload payroll submissions in March (missing the 15th March deadline for the scheme) to be included in the scheme.

“These changes have helped to keep more people in work, helped more firms through the emergency and importantly helped to maintain the link between workers and their employer during the crisis.

Deputy Nash continued: “However, the TWSS alone with not be enough to sustain jobs and local businesses. This must go hand-in-hand with direct and targeted supports to SMEs who employ 70% of all Irish workers.

“SMEs are on the brink now and cannot afford to wait any longer if their businesses are to stay afloat. They are already having problems accessing the existing Credit Guarantee Scheme due to demands for personal guarantee from banks and other unrealistic demands being placed on them via government schemes many of which look good on paper but aren’t working on the ground.

“The Government must stop the game-playing and provide innovative, direct and targeted measures – including actual cash grants like in some of our competitor markets – to SMEs to allow them to access finance quickly, cheaply and without massive bureaucratic burdens.”