News

Revenue seeks TWSS clawback

Businesses that used the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS) last year have until the end of June to review Revenue’s forthcoming overpayment calculations and formally revenue0221

accept the amounts they will have to return.

Under a reconciliation process which is beginning in the middle of next month, Revenue is calculating the difference between amounts refunded to employers under the scheme and the amounts they actually paid to their employees.

The difference will be added to the tax bills of businesses that owe money from overpayments, or returned to those companies that were underpaid by Revenue during the operation of the scheme.

Cabinet agrees hotel quarantine

The Cabinet has signed-off on primary legislation governing the introduction of a mandatory hotel quarantine for incoming passengers into the country.

The legislation, which was evaluated during an incorporeal meeting, sets out a financial penalty of €4,000, as well as a possible month in prison, for first-time offenders who do not adhere to the mandatory quarantine rules.

A second offence would see fines of up to €4,500 or three months in prison, or both. A third offence would see fines of up to €5,000 or six months in prison, or both.

The move will be in place initially for those arriving in the State from 20 countries and anyone who does not have a negative test for Covid-19.

It is agreed that those who stay in mandatory quarantine for 14 days will have to pay for their stay and will take a number of tests for Covid-19 during that time.

Private security firms are likely to be involved in the day-to-day running of the facilities, but gardaí will have a role if any laws are breached.

Regional hotels recovery forecast

The hotel sector outside Dublin will bounce back faster from Covid driven by an earlier recovery in domestic versus international tourism, lenders believe. park

The views matter because bank and so called non bank lenders are more likely to grant longer forbearance where they see the best chance of recovery.

The results of the survey of banks and other lenders are published in Deloitte’s Outlook for Real Estate for 2021.

John Doddy, Real Estate partner at Deloitte Ireland said the Covid pandemic had varied for different parts of the property market.

Hospitality has been the property segment most affected by the pandemic, causing severe pressure on these businesses from a cash flow perspective

Irish flock to forests

State-owned forests have become the go-to spot for outdoor recreational pursuits since the pandemic. forest0221

Coillte, the State’s forestry company, said the number of visitors to its recreational forests has exploded since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic last spring.

Some of the more popular forest destinations, including the Dublin Mountains, Rossmore Forest Park, in Co Monaghan, and the Donadea Forest Park, in Co Kildare, have seen a doubling or tripling of its visitor numbers since the start of the pandemic.

Using infra-red heat sensors to measure visitor traffic, Coillte estimates there were 2.2 million visits to its top 50 forests since March 2020, an increase of 38pc.

Press Up funds Arts Centre

The Press Up Entertainment Group is funding a new Arts Centre in a premises adjacent to its Dean Hotel in Dublin. Deanhotel

The Dean Arts Studio is a new, multi-disciplinary hub located on Harcourt Street in the heart of Dublin city centre. It is a practical response to the contraction of accessible, affordable city workspaces for artists of all disciplines, due in part to the loss of cultural spaces through development.

Both established and emerging practitioners across visual arts, literature, photography, sound, music and more will begin to take up residency this year. The Studio will be fully funded by The Dean Dublin and Press Up Hospitality Group, and the fourteen studios and office spaces will be gifted to artists, cultural institutions and arts organisations.

IMMA and The Dean Dublin are partnering through IMMA’s Artists’ Residency Programme by programming four artistic practices through the provision of studio spaces at the Dean Arts Studio.