Marian Harkin Urges Business Interruption Grants for SMEs

Well, thanks Minister, and if you're mentioning Carrick, I'm going to mention Drumshambo, but look, I want to thank you for your actions so far, and you've said many times that it's the right supports at the right time and the right place, so I just want to ask you about now. I mean, right now, many businesses, as you know, are facing a mounting wall of debt, rent, rates, utilities bills, and they need to pay those bills now. Many of them don't want to borrow. They're already borrowed up to the hilt, and what I'm asking you is, would you consider putting in place a business interruption grant, a small grant for SMEs, to cover or partly cover these expenses, not grants for planning or training, yes, they're important, but a business interruption grant to deal with this wall of debt. I've already asked you about the rate of interest on microfinance loans, and you responded that there is a six-month holiday, both on repayments and on interest rates, and that's correct. But even at that, Minister, if you compare to the Netherlands, a 10,000 loan over, let's say, three years, you'll end up paying twice as much in interest here than you will there, without going into the detail. But what I want to ask you is, and others have spoken about it, given that the NTMA are borrowing at 0.5% interest, would you just reconsider the interest rates on microfinance? Because for those who are just thinking about borrowing, it might help them. And my final question is around tourism. And despite what Danny Healy-Rae says, as far as we're concerned in the Northwest, we're the jewel in the tourism crown. It certainly supports well over 40,000 jobs. And it's an industry that's going to get back slowly. People are very concerned. So my question to you, and I know this impacts on other ministers, not just you, but what specific supports do you have in mind, if any, to support the tourism industry? Thank you. First of all, in relation to the tourism industry, I have spoken to all of the different representative bodies individually at different stages over the last week or so. And I know that Minister Ross is engaging with the hospitality sector and the tourism sector in terms of what we can do to support them. Because they have been impacted more so than any other sector, I believe, whether it's the pubs, the restaurants, or indeed the hotels. And it is a very difficult time for them. In terms of interest rates, as you know, and you rightly said that the microfinance Ireland loan is at 0%, no interest for the first six months. In terms of the COVID-19 working capital facility, there is an option there that you don't have to pay interest for the first six months on that as well, if you make that request. And, you know, the rates that are charged on the future growth loan scheme, it's a maximum, it's in around 4%, 3.5% for $250,000. That's the long-term loan. And those rates are very competitive in the marketplace. In terms of the working capital one, they tell me that an overdraft facility generally costs you around between 7% and 8%. Depends, of course, what you're, you know, on the bank. But this is at 4% and we felt that it was, it represented good value in the marketplace. But I take your point and, of course, these are things that we are continually looking at to see how we can make them better and make them more easily accessible to businesses. Because, as I've said here on a number of occasions, what we all want to do is to get these businesses back up and running as quickly as we can and get people back to work as quickly as we can. Thank you. Okay, girl, I'm going to get to Irish.