The Government is expected to announce new financial supports for companies which have been negatively affected by the latest Covid-19 restrictions.
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has said that the new scheme must be targetted at helping businesses in the hospitality, late night and live entertainment sectors.
The latest Covid-19 restrictions came into force on Tuesday and mean that nightclubs are closed until 9 January.
Social distancing measures are in place for bars and restaurants, while there are capacity limits on indoor events such as concerts.
The Government accepts that a 50% limit on attendance at indoor events makes many of then financially unviable.
While the Pandemic Unemployment Payment re-opened to new entrants on the same day to assist people who lost their jobs, supports for business have taken longer to finalise.
Introducing the restrictions last Friday, Taoiseach Micheál Martin, told businesses that the Government would stand-by them and “… ensure that they have the financial supports necessary to weather this latest storm and to stay intact until we are out of it.”
It is now expected that the financial package of measures will be announced later today.
However, it is anticipated they will be targetted in nature rather than applying across the economy.
Article Source – Govt to announce financial supports for businesses – RTE – Paul Cunningham