Over two fifths of small businesses here have laid-off some staff or have some employees on the wage subsidy scheme due to Covid-19, a new survey has found.
The research conducted by the Irish SME organisation, ISME, found just under 10% of firms have laid all their staff off as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
More than two thirds of the 275 respondents said they had availed of the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme or the new Employee Wage Subsidy Scheme.
17% have used the Revenue refunds and forbearance offer and a fifth of respondents said they had used the Pandemic Unemployment Payment as they are self-employed.
However, take-up of the Restart Grant is much lower at 4%, as is use of the SBCI working capital scheme, also at 4%.
Just 2% have accessed a Microfinance Ireland loan so far, while just 0.4% have availed of the Credit Guarantee Scheme which opened for applications on Monday.
Almost 70% of SMEs said they have yet to seek assistance from their banks.
19% of businesses who took part in the survey said that they are owed money by the State.
More than half of the firms who responded said as things stand they could survive as a viable going concern for more than nine months, with 17% saying they would last 6 to 9 months and a similar percentage saying they could keep going for 3 to 6 months.
A quarter said they owe less than €10,000 to creditors with 27% saying they owe between €10,000 and €50,000.
