Restart Grant must be urgently amended to save business in Kildare
The Restart grant must be urgently amended in order to save business in Kildare according to Kildare South based Labour Senator Mark Wall.
Senator Wall has urged the Tánaiste to immediately change one of the qualification criteria in the Restart plus grant which states that business turnover must be reduced by 25% from 1st April to 30Th June.
Senator Wall said:
“Many companies in Kildare were surviving and trading reasonably well prior to the localised lockdown measures. However, on account of the measures that came into place on August 7th, they have since seen their turnover decrease to the extent that in some cases, turnover is now over 50% down on last year.
“These same businesses could not apply for the first restart grant and cannot now apply for the enhanced restart plus grant and the special top up of 40% for Kildare companies because their turnover decrease did not occur within the timeframe specified in the qualification criteria for the grant.
“We already have some companies in Kildare who did not get a chance to apply for the first restart grant because the scheme was abruptly truncated with virtually no notice and now we have more businesses that will not qualify for the restart plus grant because their decrease in turnover occurred due to the localised lockdown measures and not between April 1st and June 30th.
“The Tánaiste needs to address this urgently to allow any business with a reduced turnover of 25% or more due to Covid-19 to qualify for the Restart plus grant, irrespective of when the reduction in turnover occurred. As I have said time and again, business in Kildare needs more than sympathy, they need the Government to put in place tailor made solutions such as amending the restart grant as I have outlined in order to save livelihoods in the region.