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

I thank the Chairman. There were a good few questions. I will try to go through them. I will start with the Chairman's. I agree that it is better that employers take up what was the temporary wage subsidy scheme, now the employment wage subsidy scheme. The purpose of these schemes is to maintain the link between employers and their employees. Nobody thought we would be under restrictions for as long as we have been. It was initially thought they would last six weeks, which was then extended again and again. The whole point of the schemes was to ensure the workforce would be ready to be mobilised, that contact would be maintained and that the time might be used for reskilling or upskilling staff. The aim was to make sure that people were ready to go so that the engine could be turned on and that we could get going again whenever the restrictions were lifted. I want to see that continue.

Companies will inevitably hit difficult patches even in normal times. That is why we introduced the short-time working payment, which allows one to work a certain number of days with one's employer while receiving benefits for the remaining days. I want to build on that scheme. We considered it when I was Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation and we worked with my predecessor, Senator Doherty, in that regard. We were looking at how to operate a system whereby companies who may have to lay off staff temporarily due to Brexit could maintain a connection with those staff. We had done a good deal of work, which is why we were able to bring in the temporary wage subsidy scheme fairly quickly. We had some work done on that idea at that time. I agree with the Chairman that this is something with which we need to deal and that we need to look at how it can be improved.

Deputy Ó Cuív talked about courses. If one is doing a short-term part-time course one can stay on the PUP. I take his point that we cannot consider courses that may take a year to finish. The PUP is not a permanent social welfare payment. When this virus is gone, we hope it will no longer be required. We will then move away from it. The reason we wanted people to onto the back-to-education allowance was that they would sometimes take up courses of two or three years.

They would then have no payment if they remain on the PUP because we plan to stop that at the end of March.