Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I thank the witnesses for coming today. I want to raise two issues. First, the temporary wage subsidy scheme and how it applied to people who employed childminders in their homes. I had two queries this week about people who employed a childminder in their home. During the first period of restrictions from March to June, the childminder was not able to come to work and they wanted to maintain the link with the childminder and make sure he or she had money. They both checked and they were given a general response from Revenue laying out who could claim and they both assessed that their circumstances fit the criteria.

They both received letters within the past ten days from Revenue to say that domestic employers have not been eligible for the temporary Covid-19 wage subsidy scheme, TWSS, and that they needed to refund the entire amount. Had they known that in March they would have taken a different approach. They would have ensured that the childminder went on the pandemic unemployment payment. The intent of the scheme is to make sure that they or the childminder were not out of pocket. Can we reconcile that to make sure that they do not become liable for a very significant amount that has been paid over that period? That is surely not the intent of the scheme.