I spent the last few weeks going around my constituency of Meath West talking to small businesses in towns and villages. The issue that kept coming up was energy costs. I was talking to butcher shops and convenience stores. These were essential workers during the pandemic. They have mostly between five and seven employees and their energy costs have gone up three to four times. The supports in place are not enough for these businesses and many will go under this winter if they do not get additional funding from Government. Will the Tánaiste see what can be done for these businesses? It will cost the State much more if these people end up on social welfare.

I thank the Deputy. Help is on the way for businesses struggling with high energy costs. It is in the Finance Bill. It is the temporary business energy support scheme, which will cover 40% of the increase in energy costs up to €10,000 per month per business, backdated to September. There are European rules and regulations around how far we can go in this regard and it is taxpayers' money, but we are doing as much as we can.