Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Paul Donnelly. Deputy Ó Cuív is correct about mortgage supplement. As practising politicians, all of us have dealt with and used that scheme successfully in the past where families have ended up in desperate situations. In fact, an issue I raised only last night is the issue of the central banks and the burden of interest on families. Even if there is a freeze put on the capital, having that burden of interest is a compounding problem that is left for people. It is a way to overcome the particular problem where the regulatory arms of the State say that we cannot continue to have a freeze but most of the banks would be quite flexible if the issue of interest could be addressed. It is something that we need to take up quickly and not only with the Minister for Social Protection. This has implications in terms of housing and is probably a Department of Finance issue. It is something we should probably act on quickly. There is much good feedback from members here this morning.

In looking through the report, there are quite an array of issues in terms of the pandemic unemployment payment. One of the recommendations that has been made by the Special Committee on Covid-19 Response is to also review the statutory instruments that have been issued by the relevant Department. In terms of our committee, 18 statutory instruments related to Covid-19 have been issued over the past seven months. We will have primary legislation being dealt with here on Committee Stage within the next few weeks. In terms of the operation of the pandemic unemployment payment, there are changes coming. A body of work also has been completed by the ESRI in that regard. I firmly believe that the vast majority of people should have been left on the temporary wage subsidy scheme and a wage subsidy scheme rather than being transitioned onto the pandemic unemployment payment in the first place and it would be far more cost-effective for the State, even if it was paying 90% or 100% of that, than the pandemic unemployment payment. For a cohort of people, I acknowledge the only solution is the pandemic unemployment payment. If it is something we are to look at, we need to do it quickly because it is pointless to make recommendations after this legislation is enacted. I suggest that we seek submissions on a tight timeline from both Members of the Oireachtas, who themselves know some of the existing anomalies, and from the public where they have come across anomalies.

Deputy Kerrane mentioned the issue of the over-66s.

Several members, including Senator Wall and Deputy Paul Donnelly, mentioned the under-18s and the anomalies regarding apprenticeships. We could have feedback on these very quickly and put together a short, snappy set of recommendations that would feed into the work of the Minister before we deal with Committee Stage of the legislation. This would be important because there are many complex issues. Some of the changes proposed will benefit people while others will not. Regarding the arts and entertainment sector, in particular, we should be considering this matter seriously because of the complexities that exist. Deputy Paul Donnelly made the point that it is not just a question of income because it is also a matter of paying for equipment and bands and so forth. There was a scheme that took those types of costs into account, namely, the farm assist scheme. Is it possible to design a scheme for the entertainment sector, and maybe for the bus operators and taxi drivers, that is somewhat akin to the farm assist scheme, which allows for income and takes into account the costs but still provides a supplementary income so people have a basic income? It is important that we get the entertainment industry up and running quickly. Not only would it create employment, it would also have an impact on the tourism and hospitality sectors. Probably more important, it would have an impact on the mental health of every citizen in the State. If we could have socially distanced entertainment or any type of arts activity, even through a remote mechanism, it would have a major psychological impact.

I return to the issue of isolation. It is not just a rural issue. It is easy to see isolation in rural areas because people are physically isolated in addition to being socially isolated, but isolation is also an issue in urban areas. I would like to see us move on this quickly and get feedback from our colleagues and the public, with a quick turnaround. This would tie in with the review of the statutory instruments, which we are obliged to review based on the recommendation of the Covid-19 committee.

Senator Paddy Burke made an important point on communication. One of the recommendations of the Covid-19 committee is that the communications strategies of the Departments that are accountable to us be reviewed. Perhaps we should ask the two parent Departments for a report on communications in terms of the various avenues they used. Having done so, we can make an assessment. The ESRI's report shows that about 40% of the population who lost their jobs ended up worse off because of their being in the temporary wage subsidy scheme or on the pandemic unemployment payment. Deputy Ó Cuív is quite right that the main difficulty of many of those concerned was having to service a mortgage. They could have managed if the mortgage issue did not exist.

An anomaly that colleagues came across in respect of the pandemic unemployment payment concerned the Department's enterprise support grant for the small businesses - the man or woman with the van. There was a subsidy of up to €1,000 for restart costs. Some 5,600 businesses claimed this but the actual cost was €5.8 million. Therefore, a scheme with a cap of €1,000 per applicant has actually paid out €1,035 per applicant. I cannot understand how that could have happened. It needs to be clarified by the Department. In the short term, that should be our immediate focus.

Broader issues arise regarding the islands, not just in regard to Covid-19. There is a lot of merit in what Deputy Ó Cuív said. It would be useful if we got feedback from the island communities on what worked and what did not, and the challenges that exist as a result of Covid-19. This is an area we need to examine. I recall being a member of the old Western Health Board and dealing with the issue of public health nurses on the various islands. It was asked whether a premium should be provided to people to work in such locations. This relates to a broader issue that many of us deal with, that is, the challenges in attracting doctors to rural communities. If we accept the challenge on the islands, why can we not accept them in other rural communities?

Part 1 of the Covid committee's report refers to the care of the elderly, going into a lot of detail. It states, "The Committee is of the strong view that future moves to support the older people at home must have, as a priority, a publicly funded and publicly provided model of care that is underpinned by community intervention teams from the HSE." This feeds in very well with our own work programme, which identifies the issues of carers, a carer strategy and the type of long-term solution that is required. It is also related to the issue of isolation. One of the systemic issues highlighted in the report is "The failure to prioritise empowering older persons to remain at home and develop models including smaller domestic-style units integrated into towns and city community areas." That could also apply to villages, where we should be making provision for older people living in isolated rural areas, perhaps in big houses, so they may have access to smaller units of accommodation close to services. This would be far more fruitful for them.

Broadband was raised by several speakers. It is an issue close to my heart. Let us identify what this committee can do practically. There is a lot that we could do. I suggest to members that, as a starting point, we seek a submission from Telecommunications Industry Ireland, the telecommunications infrastructure federation of IBEC, and ask it to identify the key challenges for it in rolling out infrastructure and ramping it up, be it through mobile broadband, wireless broadband, fixed-line broadband or fibre services. We should seek a report from the task force in the Department that examined this issue, and perhaps we could invite the relevant officials in to discuss it.

Senator Wall raised an important issue, that is, the fall-off in the quality of mobile voice services since the outbreak of Covid-19. There was a clear fall-off. Decisions were taken that led to a reduction in the quality of voice services. We need to examine this because an increasing number of people rely on voice services, particularly beyond their domestic circumstances. There are many practical steps we can take in the short term in addition to feeding into our overall work programme. I suggest that we focus first on the social welfare payments and the pandemic unemployment payment, particularly when we are going to be dealing with legislation in this regard in the next couple of weeks.