Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, he said over 60,000 businesses have received a payment, which is 83% of all those who have registered having been paid.
He said this follows a report conducted by the Department of Social Protection and the Department of Enterprise which demonstrated very clearly that, in terms of the increased regulatory pressures with increased costs over the last 18 months the very vulnerable sector is hospitality and retail. "There's been significant increases for workers trying to improve their conditions, making work pay and showing they have better quality of life and quality of working conditions. And obviously there's increased costs attached to that. And that's why we're giving this payment to try and assist them with those increased costs," he explained.