Mattie McGrath criticises Power Up grant as unfair to SMEs

Let's dive into the discussions shaping the nation. This grant has been unworkable and unfair and leaves many businesses locked out of the scheme. It is ironic that the name is called Power Up when so many businesses are struggling to keep their power on. That is not a pardon the pun. Minister, I want to congratulate you also on your new appointment and hopefully you will change this. Simple issues like the classification of businesses at the application stage could and should have been changed by now. The first rollout of this grant scheme was known as the Increased Cost of Business or ICOB grant. And when issues arose with that, they should not have been addressed before the second scheme, ICOB 2 grant, and now the Power Up scheme has been rolled out. So what is it, Minister of the Department, that you won't simplify these grant schemes? They are rolled out in a big fanfare and they are welcome, and I do welcome them, but they need to be able to be accessed by the business people who are struggling and many are locked out of them. For example, some post offices in my constituency have got three rounds of cost of business support grants, while others have been excluded purely because of misleading information on the application forms. The Department has not reopened the portal to allow businesses to reclassify their business correctly and avail of the grants. That is totally unfair to the people who are locked out, just because of a name or criteria. Another issue in cases I have engaged with is the instance where the business pays their rates to the business property owner. And that property owner in turn pays the rates to the county council, that is correct. But there is no way for the renter, for the person operating the business, who is paying their rates, for them to access the business. That is totally unfair. The developer does not need it because he is getting his rates anyway, but the business man has struggled to keep the doors open. He is paying his rates to the property owner. Sometimes there might be giant tenants in different parts of the building, so that is a common phenomenon. And surely we must tweak that to allow those people to get their scheme outscored. There is a whole plethora of businesses that are disallowed completely, such as laundrettes, hair and beauty salons, post offices, filling stations and small hotels. I am just an example of some of the businesses in my constituency that have been in touch with me about the scheme. It is unfair either to the good officials and the county council, temporary county councils and across the country, who are trying to manage this scheme. And they are dealing with frustrated business owners who are struggling to keep the lights on, who are struggling to keep the doors open, to pay their wages, pay their tax and insurance and indeed pay the renter landlords. They are upset and annoyed and then often their disappointment and frustration can be taken out on those officials. So it is unfair across the board. Minister Peter Burke said before the election that this scheme would have to be reviewed. And it would be up to the next government and the new government to review it. Minister, the ball is in your court now. I know you have an understanding here as I have worked with you in the past of this issue. It needs to be simplified. It needs to be fair. But it needs to be accessible for all types of businesses. Not having one post office getting it and the other not. One shop getting it or not and one hotel. That is totally discriminatory and unfair. And it is biggest belief that the department and the three rollouts of this particular scheme have not corrected the anomalies and have not made an effort for fairness and transparency and honesty for ordinary hard-pressed business people. Minister, to respond. Thank you very much. Firstly, I just want to thank Deputy McGrath for raising this important issue. I know how important SMEs and small businesses are within your own constituency in Tipperary. I am fully recognising the cost pressures that SMEs are facing and the impact that this is having on their ability to keep their doors open. As you said, the programme for Government makes several important commitments to improving the business environment that would make it easier for Irish hard-working business owners. One of them includes a VAT reduction and also adjustments to the PRSI. Last year, the Government introduced two business support schemes that were designed by my department and administered by the local authorities. The Increase the Cost of Business scheme was launched back in March of 2024 and was delivered in two phases. The first phase was a broad scheme that distributed over €154 million to 75,000 SMEs in all sectors of the economy in recognition of the higher costs of doing business. The second phase was targeted specifically at business operating at those sectors that were most impacted by increased costs such as energy, which were mainly within the retail, hospitality and beauty businesses. Almost 39,000 SMEs in those sectors received a second ICAB payment, and a total of €90 million was paid out to the second phase of the ICAB in 2024. As part of the Budget of 2025, back in October, in recognition of the increased high energy costs, my department introduced the Power Up Grant, which was again delivered by the local authority right across the country. Under this scheme, almost 39,000 SMEs in the retail and hospitality sector received a flat grant of over €4,000 in the final months of the year. In total, over €158 million has been paid out to the Power Up Grant. Taken together, Deputy, these grant schemes paid out over €400 million in a very short space of time. I want to express my deep appreciation to all the workers within the local authorities in getting these important grant supports out to businesses so quickly. A business must have received the second phase of the ICAB in order to be eligible for the Power Up Grant. This was to ensure that businesses were able to get payments as quickly as possible. The Department is aware of the issue that you have raised during the Power Up Grant registration process, where businesses were ineligible for the grant due to incorrect classifications. It is something that our Department are actively working on with businesses in relation to the registration during the ICAB process. It is reviewing the issue and I will take any of the specific points that you have raised around post offices in terms of the next steps in the consultation. We are engaging with deeper in relation to this and with the local authorities in order to bring it to a swift resolution. Thank you Mr Deputy McGrath. Thank you for your positive response, but it needs to be dealt with. It is just simply unfair to have the post office in Clonmel was here for instance, I am just anecdotally saying that, getting it and out the road in Federt or Ballangary or indeed Killanoa are not getting it. And to have small businesses then in Arfinnan and indeed Cloughine may be getting it, and ones in Korsgla and Niwa and indeed Ballapurine and the town of Keir not getting it. It is just, and I welcome the amount of money and I welcome the number of businesses that got it, but that is little solace to the people who are being locked out of it. A power-up grant is a turn-off grant for those people because they are trying their best to assess it. They are dealing with the County Council who I thank again the officials and they are helpful to them, but the frustration is palpable because they are locked out because of a reclassification, a wrong application and a wrong criteria in the first instance. So, doing what they were asked to do, but this should be crossed the board, should be clear-cut, and I wonder are some of these schemes designed this way to ensure that we hold on to the money, that the pot of money is not big enough obviously, and we kind of make it more difficult to transgress to us. Business people are at their wits' end, as I said, to try and do the books, try and keep the place safe and clean and health and safety, and all the different regulations are meted. Pay the wages, pay the PSI and VAT, and indeed pay the insurance and the rising costs. Minister, these schemes are only tinkering around with the costs anyway. The real problem is that you are not tackling the ESP, and you are not tackling the energy companies, the second highest in Europe. That is just unbelievable. And we know the difficulty of the ESP, and it compliments to everyone in their starting work to get it back to people, and now for the CEO to say they might increase the costs. That is another body-blow to these businesses. They cannot be allowed to increase the costs. They have insurance, obviously, to cover the costs, but I am talking about the ESP, and they also have massive profits, which we have seen over the last decade. Massive, gigantic profits. So business people must have a fair and palatable scheme that is easily accessible. They are too busy people. Many times they are doing this at night, when they are supposed to be having downtime with their families. They are trying to keep the doors open, and it is very, very difficult for them to get these schemes. None of them just give up, and instead of the power-up grant, it is a complete turn-off grant. Thank you. Thanks, Deputy McGrann. Minister, to conclude. Again, thank you, Deputy, for raising this important issue and your contribution here today. Again, I would like to reiterate and fully appreciate the importance the Irish SMEs play and their contribution to towns and villages right across the country, and recognising the pressure and the increase of doing business. But I would point to the speed at which this power-up grant was delivered. Over €150 million was distributed through the local authorities in a relatively two-month period. It has been an enormous benefit. A flat rate of €4,000 has been an enormous cash injection for many of these businesses who desperately need it. It does alleviate some of the pressure, not all of it, and we paid out over €400 million in 2024 to businesses most affected. I would take the issues that you have raised in relation to the particular registration period for the power-up grants. It is something that I said earlier where businesses were unable to amend a mischaracterisation of their sector, and that needs to be rectified. And again, I will review this in consideration with yourself. Thank you. Like, share, and subscribe, and let us know your thoughts in the comments. We'd love to hear from you.