FAQs

The overall purpose of the Scheme is to help Republic of Ireland tourism providers to withstand the impact of COVID-19 by providing a direct financial contribution to support their business continuity plans and contribute towards their fixed costs, seeking to position them to continue operating through 2021. 

The following businesses can apply once they meet the eligibility criteria: 

Accommodation registered under Third Party Frameworks, e.g., such as the B&B Ireland Framework, is also eligible.

Accommodation providers not included on, or who have not applied to, Fáilte Ireland’s National Quality Assurance Framework by 23rd July 2021 are ineligible to apply under this scheme 

Please refer to guidelines document for further information on eligible businesses

Grants for successful applicants will be based on the following calculations: 

• A limited fund is available for this Scheme and the final amount is yet to be determined.  It is envisaged that the minimum size of the fund will be €20 million subject to the availability of funding. 

• The grant per Eligible Applicant will be determined on a pro-rata allocation of the total fund. The grant award will be based on the number of units (bedrooms/pitches etc) per applicant property. Please refer to guidelines for grant allocation mechanism applied. 

State Aid is a term that refers to forms of public assistance, using taxpayer-funded resources, given to undertakings on a discretionary basis, with the potential to distort competition and affect trade between member states of the European Union.

The scheme is being funded under the COVID-19 EU State Aid Temporary Framework. There is a threshold of funding a legal entity can receive under this framework and grants will be capped in accordance. Other sources of funding under the COVID-19 EU State Aid Temporary Framework must be declared upon application and will be taken into account when calculating a successful applicant's final grant amount. Applicants must declare if they received any of the following forms of State Aid. 

Yes, businesses in receipt of the Adaptation Grant may be eligible should they meet the full eligibility criteria set out in the Guidelines. They must declare whether they are in receipt of the Adaptation Fund along with any other funding under the COVID-19 EU State Aid Temporary Framework.

This relates to the calendar year, January to December 2019.

If your financial statements cover a period other than January – December 2019, please indicate on your application form the turnover relating to the January – December period, and upload the financial statements you have which end in 2019. If further financial information is required during the assessment, the evaluation team will be in contact with you.

The grant will be paid by electronic transfer to the business account detailed on the application form.

The scheme opened for applications on Thursday August 5th, 2021. 

The closing date for the submission of applications is 12 Noon on Friday September 17th, 2021. 

Evaluations for this Scheme will not begin until after the Scheme has closed for all applicants on this date.

Due to the anticipated high volume of applications, Fáilte Ireland will endeavour to process applications as quickly as possible. We will keep all applicants informed throughout the application process of anticipated timeliness for completion. Only fully completed forms will be processed, and the onus is on the applicant to ensure that applications are completed correctly and fully, in order to expedite the procedure. 

The final grant awards can only be determined once all applications have been checked and the evaluation process is completed. While we anticipate that this may be November 2021, approximately 8 weeks after the scheme closes, every effort will be made to expedite payments as soon as possible.

Successful applicants must confirm payment received will be used for the defrayment of fixed costs. Any monies granted by Fáilte Ireland under the Scheme will be used solely by eligible beneficiaries in accordance with the purposes of and objective of the Scheme i.e., to support the continuity of tourism businesses.

The revenue detailed in your financial statements, is used to determine if your business’ eligible revenue is down 75% from 2019 to the defined period in the guidelines.

If the business is a single legal entity, but operates an accommodation group, or has more than one property on the Fáilte Ireland Q3 2021 NQAF listings (“Eligible Property”), then an application should be made at a group level, i.e., a single application to cover the entire group of eligible properties. 

If you have more than one business/affiliate company that meets the eligibility criteria and are established as separate legal entities, applications are to be submitted per legal entity. 

Payment of grants will be issued per legal entity taking into account State Aid rules per Applicant. The maximum funding level under the “Temporary Framework for State Aid Measures to Support the Economy in the Current Covid-19 Outbreak” will be considered per Applicant for all affiliate businesses.