Calling all businesses: €10,000 restart grants are now available from Kilkenny Council
Applications for the Government-backed Restart Grant Scheme for Kilkenny businesses are now open.
Under the €250m scheme, micros and small businesses can apply for grants of between €2,000 and €10,000 to get their businesses up-and-running again.
The scheme is being administered by Kilkenny County Council and grant applications can be made online through the Council’s website, www.kilkennycoco.ie.
Announced by Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Heather Humphreys TD, she said the Restart Grant is aimed at helping micro and small businesses with the costs associated with reopening and reemploying workers following COVID-19 closures.
Eligible businesses who have stayed open throughout the crisis, as well as those who are reopening under Phase 1 (from May 18) and Phase 2 (June 8) of the Government’s Roadmap for Reopening Society and Business, are encouraged to apply now for the Restart Grant. The applications will be prioritised for payment by the Council based on the roadmap phases.
The Minister added: “I want to ensure that eligible companies with the most immediate need to get back up-and-running receive the grant support as quickly as possible. For this reason, the businesses listed in Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the Roadmap, as well as those who stayed open all along, will be prioritised.
“Businesses know the dates on which their premises can reopen, and we want to avoid long waiting times for the grant. As a result, I am urging businesses to wait until a few weeks before their business is due to reopen before submitting their application to the local authorities.”
She said that staff in the local authorities would endeavour to process applications quickly, but a quick turnaround will be difficult to achieve if every business applies immediately.
To avail of the Restart Grant, applicants must be a commercially rateable business and:
- Have an annual turnover of less than €5m and have 50 or less employees;
- Have suffered a projected 25%+ loss in turnover from 1st April 2020 to end June 2020;
- Commit to remain open or to reopen if it was closed;
- Declare the intention to retain employees that are currently on The Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme
