Council is accepting applications for Restart Grant for businesses

Sligo County Council is now taking applications for the Restart Grant which provides direct grant aid to micro and small businesses with the costs associated with reopening and reemploying workers following COVID-19 closures.

Eligible businesses who have stayed open throughout the crisis, as well as those who are reopening under Phase 1 (from 18 May) and Phase 2 (8 June) of the Government’s Roadmap for Reopening Society and Business can apply now for the Restart Grant.

To avail of the Restart Grant, applicants must be a commercial business and be in the Local Authorities Commercial Rates Payment System and:

1. have an annual turnover of less than €5m and employ between 1 to 50 people;

2. have suffered a projected 25%+ loss in turnover to end June 2020;

3. commit to remain open or to reopen if it was closed; 4. declare the intention to retain employees that are on The Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme and re-employ staff on the Pandemic Unemployment Payment as business recovers.

The grant will be equivalent to the rates bill of the business in 2019, or a minimum payment of €2,000, whichever is the higher, and will be subject to a maximum payment of €10,000.

If a company is currently in a rateable premise but was not rate-assessed in 2019 it is still eligible to apply. The local authority can pay the grant based on an estimate of what the rates demand for 2019 would have been. Further information on the application form which is at www.sligococo.ie/restart/.