I thank the Deputies for their contributions. There is room for bio-renewables as part of the new energy mix. One company in Cork, whose representatives I met recently makes boilers. It was explained to me how you could move away from using oil for those boilers to a blend or bio-renewables. I do not know enough about the matter to comment too much, but I take the Deputy's point that we need to give confidence to people around price and policy before they invest. I will take the matter up with the Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications.
Like many people in this House, I engage with business a lot, whether that be on an individual level, with businesspeople and employers, representative groups headquartered in Dublin or chambers of commerce all around the country. All of them are raising the issue of energy costs with me. I still say that the difficulty involved in finding staff is probably as significant an issue, perhaps even more so. It is interesting to hear that. We must think about the policy wisdom of subsidising businesses while other businesses cannot get staff. You could have two restaurants in the one town, one of which is doing okay and could do better but cannot get staff and another that is really struggling but has staff. We must think about the wisdom of subsidising businesses at a time when other businesses cannot get any staff at all.
The temporary business energy support scheme is contingent on the Finance Bill being passed. The Minister for Finance's target is to get it through by the end of November, which means the scheme can be open at the end of November or in early December. The subsidy will be backdated to September, so we anticipate businesses getting a substantial amount of cash from Revenue to cover some of their energy bills before Christmas. That is certainly the plan at the moment. In fairness to Revenue, it has proven to be very efficient with the employment wage subsidy scheme and the Covid restrictions support scheme in the past. In such circumstances, I would have a lot of confidence in it.
The Government has 20 schemes to help businesses to reduce their energy use and use renewables. The best port of call for small businesses would be the local enterprise office but much of it is doing through the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland. The rules around solar panels have been changed so that pretty much any business in the country can put a solar panel on its roof without needing planning permission. There are few exceptions but not many. We hope to launch a new grant scheme in the very near future that will help businesses with the capital cost of investing in renewables and energy saving - up to 50% in some cases.
Businesses tell me that there is a great deal of help with audits, consultancy and advice, but maybe not enough when it comes to doing the work that needs to be done, whether it is with the small turbine, the solar panel, the insulation, the fridge doors or whatever. This is on the way.
Turning to the issue of relief from commercial rates, there is no plan to do this at present. Commercial rates are an important source of income for local authorities. This is a tool that has been used in the past, however.