Call for unclaimed energy relief aid to be reallocated to struggling hospitality sector 

THE leader of the Social Democrats has called on the Government to release to struggling cafés and restaurants more than €1 billion in unclaimed aid previously earmarked for energy relief.

Cork South West TD Holly Cairns called for the Government to support small hospitality sector businesses by harnessing unspent funding previously allocated to the Temporary Business Energy Support Scheme (TBESS).

TBESS was launched in 2022 with a promise of €1.3 billion in financial aid to businesses struggling with increased energy costs caused by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

However, the scheme, which closed in September 2023, was beset by controversy and in the end almost 90% of the funding allocated to it - €1.146bn - was not drawn down.

Responding to a Sinn Féin question in the Dáil late last year, Enterprise Minister Simon Coveney confirmed that all unspent monies from the scheme would be returned to the exchequer.

Ms Cairns told The Echo she was calling for the underspent TBESS funding to be reprofiled and allocated to struggling small businesses, specifically those in the hospitality sector.

“The Government allocated €1.3bn but just €154 million was drawn down, and that’s because the scheme was so unworkable for businesses, and so that money was left unspent,” Ms Cairns said.

“Now is the time to redistribute that money to support small businesses, with the focus on the smaller ones, because what we see is a one-woman café in a small rural village having the same kind of rising costs as a hotel in Dublin. They’re both in the hospitality sector but they can’t really be seen as being in the same situation with rising costs.” 

Welcoming recent comments by Finance Minister Michael McGrath about possible changes to the Government’s Tax Debt Warehousing Scheme, Ms Cairns said more needed to be done for small businesses in the hospitality sector.

The Social Democrat leader was speaking in the wake of the closures of several high-profile Cork businesses in recent weeks, including Nash 19, Tung Sing, the White Rabbit Bar and Barbecue, and Pigalle.

Ms Cairns made said she herself had grown up working in cafés and restaurants, “from the age of 12 to 20-something, the whole way through school and college”, and she said the importance of such small businesses to the city and county as “the heart of the community” was often underappreciated.

A spokesperson for the Department of Enterprise said latest available figures indicated €153,716,125 in TBESS funding had been paid out to 25,515 businesses.

They added that Budget 2024 had allocated €257m for the Increased Cost of Business (ICOB) grant, which was intended to aid qualifying small and medium businesses.

“The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment is currently working with the local authorities on the administration of the grant to ensure that support can begin to be provided to eligible businesses in the first quarter of 2024,” they said.