RESTART GRANT for Small Businesses

Apply NOW for your Restart Grant through your local authority. 

Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Minister Humphreys TD announced yesterday (Fri 22nd May) that Local Authorities are now taking applications for the €250m Restart Grant. Applications can be made online via your local authority website.

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This direct grant support is part of the wider €12bn package of supports for firms of all sizes, which includes The Wage Subsidy Scheme, grants, low-cost loans, write-off of commercial rates and deferred tax liabilities, all of which will help to improve cashflow amongst our SMEs.

All information including the application form will be available on our website at http://www.leitrimcoco.ie.

The Restart Grant – how much Grant aid is available?

There is a minimum grant of €2,000 and maximum grant of €10,000 grant aid available per business. 

The grant will be equivalent to the rates bill of the business in 2019, or a minimum payment of €2,000, whichever is the higher, and will be subject to a maximum payment of €10,000.

If a company is currently in a rateable premise but was not rate-assessed in 2019 it is still eligible to apply. The local authority can pay the grant based on an estimate of what the rates demand for 2019 would have been.

Who can apply for this business grant?

The Restart Grant is aimed at helping micro and small businesses with the costs associated with reopening and reemploying workers following COVID-19 closures.

To avail of the Restart Grant, applicants must be a commercial business and be in the Local Authorities Commercial Rates Payment System and:  

• have an annual turnover of less than €5m and employ between 1 to 50 people;
• have suffered a projected 25%+ loss in turnover to end June 2020;  
• commit to remain open or to reopen if it was closed;
• declare the intention to retain employees that are on The Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme and re-employ staff on the Pandemic Unemployment Payment as business recovers.

When can you apply for the Restart Grant?

Eligible businesses who have stayed open throughout the crisis, as well as those who are reopening under Phase 1 (from 18 May) and Phase 2 (8 June) of the Government’s Roadmap for Reopening Society and Business, are encouraged to apply now for the Restart Grant. These applications will be prioritised for payment by the local authorities.

All eligible businesses are encouraged to be aware of the date on which their premises can reopen and to wait until a few weeks before this date before submitting their application to the local authorities.

How to apply for this business grant?

Applications for the Restart Grant can be made online directly to local authorities and further information is available on the application form.  If there are queries that are not addressed on the application form, businesses can contact the Business Support Unit in each local authority.

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