The reopening of retail stores is highlighted in the Government’s latest Covid-19 messaging with Shop Local and Shop Safely a key message. Click here to see the latest guidance.

An amendment to Section 12 of the Redundancy Payments legislation, one of the Emergency Measures in the Public Interest COVID-19 Act 2020 has been extended to 10 August.  This means that for the duration of the designated ‘emergency period’ employees on lay-off or short-time will not be in a position to claim a redundancy payment if the lay-off or short-time is due to the effects or measures required to be taken by the employer to comply with, or as a consequence of, the Government policy to reduce the spread of infection of COVID-19. 

On Friday 29 May, the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Regina Doherty, confirmed that the Cabinet had decided to extend the suspension of redundancy provisions relating to temporary lay-off and short-time work which arose as a result of COVID-19 until 10 August.  Click here for more information

Supports of up to €5,000 are available to help SMEs get online

Under the Scheme, small businesses can claim up to €5,000 in two vouchers worth €2,500 each. The Scheme also facilitates subscriptions to low-cost online retailing platform solutions to quickly establish a retailing presence online. Click here for more information.

TDs Emer Higgins and Mattie McGrath have asked Dail Questions about the Public Health Alcohol Bill 2018 requirement for mixed trading shops to introduce segregation of alcohol products by 12 November.  Click here to read more.

The new RGDATA APP is now available to all our members – all the news and information you need at your fingertip including Covid-19 updates; RGDATA campaigning; HR advice, latest convenience retail innovation, research data and member survey results.

RGDATA Director General is one of the signatories of a letter calling for the establishment of a specific taskforce to drive and manage the regeneration of Town, village and urban centres. “Before Covid-19 created havoc many Irish towns already had some of the highest vacancy rates in Europe. We need a specific taskforce led by regeneration experts to drive the recovery in our towns, villages and urban centres,” says RGDATA Director General Tara Buckley. RGDATA has been making the case for this unit to politicians negotiating the new programme for Government. Click here to read the contents of the letter.

Ireland is sliding down the ranking for better regulation from 9th place in the EU in 2009 down to 23rd in 2020 according to a new report from the National Competitiveness Council. “RGDATA and others SMEs are calling for a specific agency to support SMEs. This agency could revive the Better Regulation Unit so that Ireland can deliver on the targets to streamline red tape and regulation and make our systems more efficient and more supportive of the SME sector,” Tara Buckley stated. RGDATA is raising this with the Department of Business and the National Competitiveness Council, Buckley added.  Click here to read the new report.

Lobbying by insurers blamed for delay in commencing new law

LOBBYING by the insurance industry has been blamed for the delay in implementing new legislation which would make it much more difficult for insurers to avoid paying out on claims. Read the Independent.ie story here.

RGDATA as part of the Local Jobs Alliance has launched a new report by economist Jim Power which sets out the key role that family owned SMEs play in Irish communities. “We are the key to economic recovery and local job and enterprise retention and creation and SMEs need to be put at the heart of the post Covid 19 regeneration plans,” RGDATA Director General Tara Buckley said.

The Local Jobs Alliance brings together seven representative associations in retail, hospitality, services and manufacturing. Infographic here. Click here for the press release and here for the LJA Jim Power Report.

Covid-19 Online Retail Scheme

·         Enterprise Ireland has €2 million to distribute to Irish-owned retail enterprise that had 10 or more employees on or before 29 February 2020, have a retail outlet and have an existing online presence. (Shops with less than 10 employees can apply for the Online Trading Voucher provided by Local Enterprise Offices).

·         The maximum grant available is €40,000. Successful applicants will be awarded funding to support a maximum of 80% of the project costs. The minimum grant amount payable is €10,000.

·         Costs which successful companies will be eligible to claim for include: salary costs and consultancy fees to develop a digital strategy, enhance the company’s website or to provide training.

·         The final date for companies to submit an application is 3.00 pm on Wednesday 27th May 2020. Full details of application process and eligibility rules are available on the EI website now with the link to the application available from 29th April:  www.enterprise-ireland.com/retail

·         In addition to fully appraise companies of the application process and the key issues to be addressed in an application, EI hosted a Webinar on Friday April 17 – a recording is accessible through the above hyperlink.

If you have any queries or issues that need to be addressed get in touch by email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. As this is a competitive process EI won’t answer queries from individual enterprises that are making an application now that the process is live but they are happy to respond to queries from a trade association.