Táimid ag bogadh ar aghaidh go dtí an liosta ginearálta anois agus glaoim ar an Teachta O’Reilly.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Leas-Cheann Comhairle. The trading online voucher scheme, which now falls under the Tánaiste’s Department, has seen the grant issued cut from 90% of funding to 50% at the start of this year. Will the Government consider reinstating the funding at 90% for as long as the current level 5 restrictions are in place so that businesses under enforced closure can have some input into moving online? This would be important given that the level 5 restrictions are going to be in place until at least the start of March and it is important that he gives consideration to reinstating the funding under this scheme at its previous level.

I thank the Deputy for this question. We have a couple of schemes. There is a retail scheme and also the trading online voucher scheme, which has been transferred to my Department. We have decided after careful consideration to change the scheme to a 50:50 model, with the business contributing half the cost and the Government contributing the other half. We believe we will get better bang for our buck by doing it in this way. We will see how it goes and review it again at that point.