Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

To be clear, I will not be looking at the pandemic unemployment payment for those aged over 66. I want to be clear because I do not want any confusion. It is not planned to look at the pandemic unemployment payment for those aged over 66 because it was set down for those aged between 18 and 66. They are the people who qualify for the pandemic unemployment payment. I know what the Deputies are saying, and I have the same cases in my constituency, whereby people have businesses and no income because they are closed. It applies to many publicans, let us face it. That is where the problem lies. As I said, we looked at how we could extend the enterprise support grant to those aged over 66 and many problems came up. I take the point and perhaps when the committee does the review it will have the chance to go through it. I am open to any suggestion. I am sure there are not many people affected. I am open to any suggestion the committee comes up with. It is something I am very conscious of also.