SDLP Foyle MLA Sinead McLaughlin
However, she has warned that it still leaves many businesses in Northern Ireland outside the various support schemes and in financial hardship.
Said the Foyle MLA: “It is good to see that some micro-businesses in Northern Ireland will get financial hardship help.
“But I am concerned that this will leave vast numbers of our smallest firms without assistance.
“And there needs to be clarity of the criteria used for support given that the number of applicants is likely to greatly outstrip the money available for them.
“Northern Ireland is very dependent on our small firms – much more so than is the case in Great Britain.
“It is essential that we do everything possible to keep these small firms going beyond this crisis.”
