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

I will slightly press the Minister on that issue. The Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Humphreys, will bring a memorandum to Cabinet today. I am not sure what is in the memorandum, but it certainly raised alarm bells. It would be very helpful for the Minister for Finance to give reassurances to people, particularly those in sectors where there is likely to be quite a long-term impact from Covid. I previously referred to taxi drivers. They will be protesting on Thursday. Their sector will not recover until the music, entertainment, aviation and tourism sectors recover. It would be completely wrong to cut their PUP, as it would be to cut the PUP of workers in sectors such as music or entertainment where it is clear they have lost income and employment opportunities as a result of Covid and are likely to be the longest impacted by those factors. Assurances in that regard would be helpful.

It is not just about the fact that there are emergency Covid payments and public services. My point was that Covid has revealed significant deficiencies in spending and investment in several areas. It is important that we do not go backwards, to where we were previously, but, rather, recognise the lessons of Covid. We need to increase capacity in ICUs, hospital bed numbers and public health teams around the country to name just a few examples. Similarly, we need investment in schools such as in better ventilation, better quality buildings and smaller class sizes. Surely these are the lessons of Covid. Learning those lessons means increased investment and capacity building. I have given just two examples. Housing is another I could add. Any talk of just returning to the situation pre Covid would not be learning the lessons of the pandemic in terms of going to the new and better normal that has been much spoken about.