I wish to raise an issue with the Taoiseach regarding the temporary wage subsidy scheme, TWSS, which was introduced last March to help small businesses, and all businesses, to try to keep their employees and the employers connected in order that they would not have to go onto social welfare or be let go from work. When this scheme was introduced, it was a very good scheme and helped a lot of businesses to stay afloat. However, I now have some cases coming to me in which, when Revenue did some checks, it found that some businesses did not fully meet the criteria in the sense that their turnover is supposed to be down by 25%. In a number of these cases, when the businesses did their projections they had no business in March. They looked at all the options and looked at the scheme that was in place. They decided that in order to keep the loyalty of the employer and the employee intact, they would go with the TWSS. In one case, the owners of a company took out an overdraft to look at other options to try to create business, which they did. Their online business grew substantially in the meantime, leaving them in a position whereby their company was down 17% or 18%, rather than 25%, on turnover. As a result of all of this, when Revenue checked up on the company in recent weeks, it asked it to repay all the TWSS it got. If this is the way we are doing business, we will drive these small businesses out of business in a very short time. I ask the Taoiseach to look at this with the Minister for Finance and consider how Revenue is looking to recover this money. These businesses have never defaulted. The sole purpose of what they did was to keep their business going and to keep their employees employed, but they are now being penalised harshly for that. They are not looking for anything for nothing; they are just looking for perhaps a graduated refund of some nature because they still have a loss in their business. There now seems to be a tactic of trying to get this money back before the end of this year. I think this will put a shiver down the spine of every small business if it is trying to remain in operation through next year. I ask the Taoiseach to look at this and give me his comments.

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I reassure him that there is no tactic or strategy here to try to claw back revenue or anything like that. That is not motivating any actions on the part of the Revenue Commissioners at all. As the Deputy will be aware, between March and August 66,500 firms received payments under the TWSS. This amounts to approximately one third of all employers from 2019. Over 664,000 jobs have been directly supported over the period, and many more indirectly. The whole objective was to protect the viability of businesses and the jobs within those businesses and to enable them to come through this Covid period intact. That remains the objective of the scheme. It was originally meant to be in place for 12 weeks but was then extended until the end of the summer.

Then we moved into the employment wage subsidy scheme, EWSS, phase. As a result of the novel situation around the reopening of the economy in the summer, we had to close down again. Changes were also made to the scheme to allow additional flexibility for employers.

In terms of the issues the Deputy has raised, he is correct that the subsidy was targeted at otherwise viable employers. As he stated, they are people who have never defaulted before. They had to demonstrate a 25% reduction in turnover during the second period of 2020. It was administered on a self-assessment basis whereby employers make a declaration to Revenue as to their eligibility for the scheme. Such declarations are subject to compliance checks by Revenue to ensure that the considerable sums given to employers under the scheme were in accordance with the provisions set down in legislation. Employers had to be able to show to the satisfaction of Revenue that the negative disruption led to a minimum of 25% of a decline in actual or predicted turnover. Considerable guidance was issued on the scheme, including Revenue's expectation that any employer availing of the scheme should be able to produce supporting documentation in respect of certain criteria if and when requested to do so, the overall principle being, of course, that Exchequer funds are targeted at genuine cases that meet the criteria. As with any area of tax compliance, it is very much in the interests of businesses to review their own behaviour and approach Revenue to resolve matters voluntarily before compliance action is taken.

The temporary wage subsidy scheme, TWSS, is under the care and management of the Revenue Commissioners, who are independent of Government in the administration of the scheme. Revenue has continued to work with employers and to take a practical and pragmatic approach to the administration of the scheme while also ensuring that it is fairly and consistently administered across all employers and in line with legislation. That said, the example and illustration raised by the Deputy is an interesting one in terms of an initiative taken by the employer who probably was not in a position to predict how well the online part of the business would go and is now in difficulty. I will raise the issues with the Minister for Finance who may, in turn, present them to Revenue just to evaluate the scheme, ascertain how frequent these issues are and what is the rate of such cases.

I thank the Taoiseach for his positive reaction. The important thing is that when these businesses were availing of the scheme, Revenue stated that it did not consider that any business needed to take professional advice or assistance in proving to the satisfaction of Revenue that the criteria were met. It was stated that Revenue would validate some employer eligibility for the scheme but, in so doing, it would adopt a reasonable, fair and pragmatic approach in considering whether the criteria had been met. That is the underlying issue here. These small businesses did everything in good faith. They exceeded the projections they made because the owners of the business rolled up their sleeves and looked around to see where they could get business. They found the business online and took out an overdraft to finance what they were doing. Now they find they are being penalised horrifically. It is something that needs to be addressed rapidly.

First of all, there will undoubtedly be ongoing consideration of the scheme. There needs to be an evaluation of the scheme, how it worked and its effectiveness. I have no doubt that it has been very effective in terms of supporting many businesses. As I stated, more than 66,500 firms received a payment under the TWSS, supporting more than 664,000 jobs. If the Deputy can submit the details of the cases to me and the Minister for Finance, that would assist in any evaluation, There genuinely is no motivation here to target or undermine people who applied in good faith under the scheme, given the situation in which they found themselves at the start of what has been an unpredictable global pandemic that no one could have anticipated. I do take the Deputy's point.