Ms Eilis Barry:

We see that as problematic. Someone who has been working in a wet pub for 20 years will be hoping that it will shortly be reopened and has been given every indication that it will be. To require such a person to be genuinely seeking work to remain entitled to the Covid-19 pandemic unemployment payment, in circumstances in which a redundancy payment cannot be claimed, is to ask them to waive a very significant entitlement.