Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

No decision has been made to cut anything at the end of June. The clear international advice globally is that countries must be very careful that we do not cut off supports too early because it could create a very negative impact on the economy. As we reopen sectors of the economy and people go back to work there will be a fall-off in the number of people who avail of the PUP. It will decline naturally. People will go back to work in construction and in retail as we emerge from Covid-19. We must tailor supports over time and look at how we can help some sectors to restart and give them added support in the rebooting phase. I am thinking in particular of the hospitality and tourism area to see what we can do to help those sectors and later the entertainment sector. However, we must get the numbers down. As things stand, we have given clarity that up to the end of June the range of supports we currently have will stay in place. By the end of June, we hope to be in a much better position regarding Covid and that sectors of the economy will have restarted so that the dependence on the support mechanisms will reduce. We will have a chance to focus on the budget then.