‘Technicality’ could see Kilkenny retailers lose out
It is understood that multiple businesses in Kilkenny have been impacted by this
Retailers from different sectors in Kilkenny are fearing that they may lose out on an important grant due to a technicality that has arisen in the grant application process.
The Irish Petrol Retailers Association (IPRA) were amongst the industry bodies raising attention around the issue.
“Retailers across the country were able to access the Increased Cost of Business (ICOB) grant scheme and without clear guidance from Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, many filling stations denoted themselves as ‘other’ rather than ‘retail’ on the application form,” explains David Blevings, spokesperson for the IPRA.
“They did not realise that this made them ineligible for ICOB Grant 2 for which only ‘retail’ were eligible.
“It was only when they needed to apply for the new PowerUp Grant that retailers realised they were ineligible to apply for this (and also wouldn't be receiving ICOB2) because to be eligible they needed to have categorised themselves as ‘retail’ and not ‘other’.
“This technicality is absurd and leaves them short of both IBOC2 and the PowerUp Grant.”
It is understood that multiple businesses in Kilkenny City have been impacted by this, including at least three filling stations.
The IPRA have described the debacle as ‘a very unfair situation’ and are now calling on the Department ‘to urgently facilitate the reopening of the application portal’.
They explained that reopening the portal would allow affected retailers to make the one small adjustment required - switching from ‘other’ to ‘retail’ in their business type.
“This small change is worth thousands to struggling vulnerable retailers, for whom the grant was supposed to support,” the IPRA concluded.