Covid-19 (Business, Enterprise and Innovation): Statements
Dail Éireann — 2020-05-14
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Marian Harkin (IND), Sligo-Leitrim

So good they named it twice. According to an extensive IBEC survey, many businesses are running out of cash and yet the take-up of some of the liquidity measures announced by the Minister's Department is low. Why is that happening? One of the reasons is that many companies do not want to add to their increasing levels of debt. I have spoken about this previously in terms of their utility bills, rent and insurance. We also have to remember that an end to lockdown is not the start of normal trading. Many businesses will have turnovers of around 20% or, at best, 50%. They have no profit so they do not want to restart with an overhang of debt. Will the Minister give cash grants to businesses as has been done in the UK, Germany and Denmark to specifically cover ongoing costs when closed to ensure they are not restarting with a significant overhang of debt?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2020-05-14/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:48:17+00:00
Sitting date: 2020-05-14