The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform has indicated that no final decision has been made on extending the Temporary Business Energy Support Scheme to professional businesses.
However, Michael McGrath said the Government will go as far as it possibly can to extend the scheme, within the parameters of the Budget.
Yesterday, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar indicated that professionals will be able to avail of the €1.25bn scheme aimed at helping businesses cope with energy costs.
Details will be revealed in the Finance Bill, which goes to Cabinet on Tuesday.
Speaking this afternoon in Cork, Minister McGrath said final costings had yet to be completed, and this was proving difficult as the scheme had been designed "from scratch".
He said a decision on whether to extend the scheme to so-called Case 2 businesses, such as doctors and dentists, would be taken "shortly", pointing out that the Finance Bill would be published next week.
"We do acknowledge that businesses from right across the board, across all sectors, are incurring really high energy costs at this point in time, so we will go as far as we can within the parameters of the Budget," Minister McGrath told RTÉ News.
"It has been difficult to cost accurately a new scheme like this, which we have had to design from scratch, so the final decision will be made very shortly in the context of the Finance Bill."
He said the Government was considering how to provide assistance to businesses "across a whole range of sectors".
Minister McGrath also said the Government recognised that there were concerns in relation to the proposed levy on concrete blocks.
He said a final decision on the concrete block levy would also be made in the Finance Bill.
The minister said he did not believe the Irish economy was exposed to any contagion from the turmoil in financial markets in the UK, caused by the British government's fiscal plan.
He also said he welcomed the re-admission to the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party of Sligo-Leitrim TD Marc MacSharry.
"I think he is somebody who can make a very significant contribution to the party into the future," Minister McGrath said.
"I look forward to his re-admission to the party, and to working with him in the interests of the party and the country in the future."
