Major grants schemes must be put in place by the incoming Government to help small and medium sized businesses and the hospitality sector enterprises “get back up and running”.
This is the view of Independent Galway West TD, Noel Grealish, who said “grants, not loans” are essential to ensure businesses in Galway do not go under owing to the Covid-19 lockdown and the oncoming recession.
“Businesses are struggling enough with loans as it is, and trying to service them at a time when they have no cash coming in,” he said. “There are so many businesses in Galway seriously trying to figure out how they can survive. They need help immediately. The last thing I want to see walking down Shop Street is shops closed down left and right of me.”
'More will need to be done to help businesses reopen and survive in the coming months. We are examining other measures' - acting Taoiseach Leo Varadkar
Dep Grealish acknowledged that such a scheme would cost “a couple of billion euro”, but that it would give businesses a cash flow injection, and would save thousands of jobs in the process. He also pointed out how the National Asset Management Agency was established in 2009 to bail out the banks to save the Irish economy. A similar approach now needs to be taken to bail out businesses and protect workers.
“Irish businesses and taxpayers bailed out the banks at a cost of more than €100 billion,” he said. “Something similar needs to be done to keep businesses viable until a vaccine becomes widely available.”
In the Dáil last week, the acting Taoiseach Leo Varadkar acknowledged that “more will need to be done to help businesses reopen and survive in the coming months. We are examining other measures and are happy to hear people's suggestions in that regard”.
