Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Monday, 16 November 2020

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach

Finance Bill 2020: Committee Stage

Photo of Richard Boyd BarrettRichard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Amendment No. 104 seeks to have a report produced within four weeks to see whether the Covid restrictions support scheme, whose objectives I broadly support, will provide support to the self-employed and lone traders in sectors such as the taxi industry, music, arts and live entertainment. I have made the argument and genuinely hope that the Minister will consider what I have said. I do not expect him to say anything now but it is simply unfair to leave the taxi drivers out of this scheme. There are people in arts, music and live entertainment who do not have a premises, per se, but whose entire livelihood has been significantly impacted and ability to work has ceased entirely. Many of them are still carrying costs during the pandemic. I do not see the rationale and I do not see too much at stake to justify the Minister not including those groups. I hope the Minister will reconsider these matters before Report Stage. At the very least, within a few weeks of this scheme passing into legislation, there should be a report to see how much trouble the groups who have effectively been left out of the scheme may be in and whether at that point the Minister will reconsider their exclusion. As I said, I hope he will reconsider before then but, in the absence of that, this amendment is to require a report on those sectors and groups within four weeks of the passing of the Bill.

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