Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

The Covid crisis is a serious threat to the life and limb of many people around the country. We must do our best to reduce the number of cases within the State and do the simple things and avail of the low-hanging fruit as best we can. I refer to working from home where possible, social distancing, wearing face coverings on public transport and in shops, and so on.

The figures have increased worryingly over recent weeks but thankfully, hospital admissions, ICU admissions and fatalities are far lower than when cases were at a similar level at the start of the pandemic. We have to thank our healthcare workers for employing new and better treatments to protect those who have contracted Covid. We also have to thank those who work with older people. They have protected them in a way in which they were not protected at the start of the Covid crisis. It is worrying to hear of recent clusters such as the one in County Laois.

Covid is hammering people in many ways. The health service is being hammered. It is now widely thought that the number of excess non-Covid deaths will be greater than that of Covid deaths because of the vast reduction in health service capacity. The pandemic is also hammering people's mental health in a big way.

As we are talking about today, Covid is also wiping out whole sections of the economy. Many businesses are being totally wiped out by Covid. This is also causing major poverty. The truth of the matter is that the idea that we are all in this together was never true. It was never the case that we were all in this together. Not one person in Leinster House has lost a shilling in income during the Covid crisis. Covid has focused much of its economic damage on those earning low incomes and on young workers. That is where the pressure is felt. Even with the PUP and the other supports the Government has provided, these sections of the economy have suffered radically due to the Covid crisis.

If we want to protect workers, we need to be careful to protect their working environments both through preventative measures as regards Covid but also through being careful with restrictions. I did some study on this issue this morning and Ireland is an outlier with regard to the severity of restrictions. I will give an example. There are a number of hotspots throughout Europe, including Madrid, Paris and Berlin. All of these cities have a far greater number of cases of Covid per 100,000 of population over the last 14 days than Ireland but none has shut its restaurants. Madrid, Paris and Berlin have kept their restaurants open. We need to be very careful that we, as a well-paid body of politicians, do not take people's ability to work and earn an income away from them. Counties Mayo, Kerry and Waterford all have extremely low levels of Covid in European terms but they are prevented from functioning. That does not make sense. We have to be careful and make sure that we do not see another rise such as we saw in April and May but we also need to make sure the country does not overstep the mark and become an outlier as regards restrictions.

It is absolutely wrong for the Government to push these hundreds of thousands of people out of work while, at the same time, radically reducing the economic protections provided for them. Removing the rent freeze while imposing restrictions on people's individuals' ability to earn an income, not proceeding with mortgage protections for families that are going to find it increasingly difficult to pay mortgages over the coming years, and reducing the PUP is absolutely wrong. It is a disgrace that a person on the Minister's income would desire to reduce the income of people who have been forced out of their jobs and are now on incomes which make it impossible to pay for rent, food, housing, healthcare, education and all of the other aspects of life that are important to them. If the Government is going to drive in a particular direction with regard to restrictions, it has a moral responsibility to help people along in economic terms and to protect them.

When one measures the steps taken in respect of rent, mortgages and the PUP and compares them with the largesse of the Government when spending in its own circles, that largesse is absolutely incredible. The Government feels the necessity for as many as 70 special advisers, many of whom are earning well over €100,000. The Government sees it as logical to give itself a pay rise in the middle of this pandemic. It does not make sense whatsoever. On the one side we are reducing the wages of people earning €18,000 while, on the other side, we are increasing the wages of those on €80,000. Is any part of the Minister's mind uncomfortable with that? Is she uncomfortable with people on such a low income being the target for wage reductions while those on substantial incomes receive pay increases? In other words, the wealth inequality in our society is being actively pushed by the Government. I ask the Government to think about the steps it has taken over recent weeks, to see the radical divergence between restrictions and income supports and at least to marry the two.

The two should be put in the same direction. As we go into the depths of winter with restrictions, we need to make sure we support workers.

People in this State are being told that if they experience symptoms of Covid, they should not return to work and if their children have symptoms or have been prevented from going to school, they should stay at home and mind those children. That is all fair and well if the Government provides the income supports for them to do that but if it cuts the income legs from underneath them, they will not be able to do it and many of those individuals will find themselves in the workplace when they should not be there, thereby reducing the State's ability to fight this illness. This is a serious illness. We need to do the best we can to fight it but pulling the income rug from underneath people's feet at this time is not the best way to do that.

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