Ballinrobe-based Fine Gael councillor, Cllr Michael Burke, has called on Mayo County Council to write to the government over what he feels is 'an unfair Covid grant scheme for businesses which is not allowing some small business to apply for assistance'.
He told the April meeting of Mayo County Council that: “We have small business and we are trying to open up the county. There was a new grant brought in which was €4,000 for the first quarter, €8,000 for the first six months and my complaint is that anybody who has a turnover of less that €50,000 per annum in 2019 and that is net of VAT, isn’t allowed anything. I think this is very unfair. I’m not blaming the county council for it, but I am blaming the government for it. It should be on a scale that if you’re on €45,000, you get €3,000, and so on. I know there has to be a bottom line - but there are a lot of small shops doing less than €50,000 a year and making a living out of it and we are offering them no support whatsoever at the moment and I think it is very wrong.”
