Donohoe ‘does not have legal means’ to pursue dividend firms over Covid supports

Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe has said that he does not have the legal means to pursue companies that paid "big dividends" after receiving Covid wage supports.

Entry to the scheme was dependent on turnover not profit, he told RTÉ radio's Morning Ireland.

The only way that the Revenue Commissioners could pursue such companies was if they had breached the criteria for entering the scheme, he said. It had been accepted that it was likely that some companies would make a profit because of the supports which had kept people in jobs.

Mr Donohoe said he would now examine the scheme, but he was conscious of two factors – he did not want to reduce the ability to help employees get back to work quickly and he did not want to undermine the ability of companies to invest in their future. However, he said that companies that had engaged in “egregious behaviour” would be dealt with.

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“Ultimately we want these companies to recover.”

The policy would help the country recover and he hoped that it could be phased out in 2022. Companies that had paid out a dividend would be examined to see if they wanted to return some of the supports they had received.

The new “heightened” supports would continue until the end of January in line with public health regulations. Any change in supports would be dependent “on where we are with the virus”.

Mr Donohoe added: “We will get to a better place”, at which stage the “exceptional level” of supports would decrease.