Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will deal with the points made to me in turn. Deputy Boyd Barrett made a point regarding the need for this payment. I absolutely agree with and understand that point because I, along with the then Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, former Deputy Regina Doherty, and the current Tánaiste, Deputy Varadkar, brought in the payment. We brought it in because of our absolute awareness of the need for a payment at that point in time. Regarding those who may have had a higher income as a result of the payment, which I mentioned to Deputy Tóibín earlier, I must be precise and point out that this applied to a small group of people and I do not want to suggest otherwise. The fact that a small number of people saw their income rise across that period was a consequence of the fact that we were in an absolute emergency and needed to do something really quickly. All we could do with the mandate of acting quickly was bring in a payment at a single level. That was the right thing to do and it provided much needed and much deserved income support for those who needed it. While we still have many people on the PUP now, thankfully it is a decrease on where we were earlier in the year. It is a payment that continues to be needed and that is why it is there at its current level.

Deputy Tóibín made a point regarding the number of people that the Government has stopped working but the reason we have done that is to protect health. I do not hear any recognition of that in the contributions he has made. The reason we have introduced public health guidance that means, sadly, hundreds of thousands of people are back on the PUP and not able to work is to try to protect our health and to prevent these people, their neighbours, co-workers and their communities getting the disease. These are not the actions of a capricious Government. We are taking action on public health grounds. That is why we have taken these actions and why we brought in the PUP.

The Deputy is correct that I noted that the PUP was at a high level. I made that point in the context of the average level of jobseeker's payment, which is €203. A payment of €350 versus a payment of €203 looks high but it was the right thing to do and it had to be done. It had to be done to protect people at a time of great need.

One could take a wider view of the pandemic unemployment payment and look at the ancillary benefits a person could get under our social welfare code. The other payments available to persons on a jobseeker's payment mean that the kind of social welfare entitlements that are available during a normal time are comparable with the single payment of €350 that was made under the pandemic unemployment payment. It was the right level and it was the right decision at the right time.

On the points raised by Deputy Doherty, this is not and was not an urgent needs payment. Rather, it is an income support. As it is an income support, we are taxing it in the way we tax other income supports. It is not listed in the Finance Bill 2018 because, obviously, it did not exist then. It was brought in this year. It was not available at that point. None of us anticipated we would be in a situation where we would be bringing in the pandemic unemployment payment. I made clear at the time the payment was introduced that it would be a taxable payment. The Deputy is correct that a change is being made in the Finance Bill. That change is being made to ensure that we have legal certainty in respect of this matter. Both I and the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Humphreys, made clear at the time that this was the way in which it would be treated because it was an income support.

On the question asked by Deputy Farrell, I would not be bringing this measure forward in the Bill unless I was clear and advised that this was legal, allowable and the right thing to do from a legal point of view. That is why it is in the Bill.

Deputy Barry drew a comparison between the pandemic unemployment payment and what he referred to as corporate welfare. If by referring to "corporate welfare" he is referring to the wage subsidy schemes that kept hundreds of thousands of people in their jobs during that period, I remind him that those schemes are taxable too.