Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

In nine hours and 23 minutes' time the country will go into national lockdown for the second time. There will be tough times for many people, especially ordinary working people. The Tánaiste said he expects that more than 150,000 people will lose their jobs. Many others think that is a conservative estimate. We are talking about working people who are the backbone of this country and bailed out the banks ten or 12 years ago. It is important that they are fully supported.

When the first lockdown was introduced, a range of supports were introduced. If I stopped someone on the street and asked him or her about the key supports people got, I would wager that a majority of people would tend to come back with three or four examples. The examples they would quote would be the €350 pandemic unemployment payment, the ban on evictions and rent increases and the mortgage moratorium. The €350 pandemic unemployment payment is back. The ban on evictions and rent increases is back. The mortgage moratorium is not back. It is at the discretion of the banks, if they so decide, to give people payment breaks that are individually tailored to them. It is not something that has to be done.

That is a mistake and it will cause a great deal of grief and heartache for ordinary working people over the next weeks and months. It is a policy that needs to be changed. People who have been given a bad break by the pandemic rightly feel they should be given a decent break by the banks. Anything less than a fresh mortgage moratorium would be a betrayal. I agree with that opinion.

My first question is for Mr. Sibley because he is fielding questions on the payment break issue. How can the best approach be an individually tailored one, given that we are not talking about a few dozen or a few hundred people who come knocking at the door? We are talking about tens of thousands of people who really need that payment break over the next weeks and months.