Ms Teresa Leonard:

I would like to refer to Aer Lingus staff, their applications for the Covid-19 pandemic unemployment payment and the controversy around that issue during the summer. There are several things at stake here. We have been actively involved with the Aer Lingus staff since 1 September. All the applications we have received in that period have now been processed. More than 3,200 cases are involved. To put the whole issue in context, two schemes to support employers and employees in employment are currently operating. The temporary Covid-19 wage subsidy scheme was introduced early this year. Aer Lingus took part and its employees were paid using that scheme. The temporary Covid-19 wage subsidy scheme is not compatible with the Covid-19 pandemic unemployment payment. A claimant cannot receive both. The temporary Covid-19 wage subsidy scheme marks a recipient as employed. At that point, some Aer Lingus employees made applications to the Department which have not yet been processed. On 1 September the temporary Covid-19 wage subsidy scheme was replaced by the employment wage subsidy scheme, which is payable to the employer. That payment is compatible with jobseeker's benefit. The Department has processed all of those claims, which I referred to initially.

We have now set up a group of deciding officers to process the claims from the period prior to 1 September. Each of these claims is quite complex and must be examined individually. We must determine whether a claimant received the temporary Covid-19 wage subsidy scheme, the periods of time for which he or she did so and the periods for which he or she was employed. Employers paid remuneration to some employees for some periods and actually increased their wages. The temporary Covid-19 wage subsidy scheme allowed employers to top up employees' wages. As such, claims made prior to 1 September are very complicated. The only way to examine them with any thoroughness is to set up a group of deciding officers, which is now working on them one by one. That work commenced last week. We will go through each and every claim and determine an outcome for each individual.

We have also made an arrangement with Aer Lingus. If we ask its employees for particular information, Aer Lingus is aware of what we require and will immediately supply it to the claimant via email. It will take time, but we hope to get through the claims in the next several weeks.