John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will start by thanking all the front-line workers who are doing extraordinary work in very difficult circumstances. I extend those thanks to all staff working in the Intreo offices across the State, who have seen an unprecedented level of new applications come before them over recent weeks. More than 100,000 have been dealt with at this stage. I commend and thank those staff members for all their work under extremely difficult circumstances.

I welcome this Bill. Many of the social protection measures were dealt with in last week's legislation. There are a couple of bits to be dealt with in this legislation with regard to redundancy and civil registration. Over recent weeks, we have seen many employers behaving responsibly but we have also seen some acting very irresponsibly and taking advantage of very difficult circumstances. We need to ensure that workers' rights and entitlements are protected in all legislation we pass. That is why Sinn Féin has tabled an amendment to Part 8, which deals with redundancy payments, to ensure that workers' rights with regard to redundancy payments are not affected at a later stage by a temporary loss of employment. We have tabled an amendment to deal with that issue which I hope will accepted by the Government because we need to ensure the protection of workers' rights.

A minority of employers are also taking advantage in a number of other areas. Some are forcing workers to take annual leave against their will and without notice. Resources need to be greatly enhanced for the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, which is under extreme pressure, to allow it to deal with the level of inquiries and complaints it is receiving at present and will continue to receive into the future.

I will raise a number of issues. One issue which has come to the fore in recent days is that of frontier workers, that is to say people from the North who work in the Twenty-Six Counties, who have been made unemployed. Many thousands have been made unemployed in Border counties from Donegal right the way over to Louth. They pay their taxes and contributions here. Many have applied for the pandemic unemployment payment, PUP, and been turned down. Clarity is needed in that regard because conflicting messages are coming from the Department. I attended a briefing by Department officials yesterday. They said it was their understanding that such workers are entitled to the payment but applications are being turned down. We need clarity on that. They should be entitled to this payment. We need a guarantee that will be the case.

I also need clarity with regard to people who were on the X's and O's or casual dockets. Many such people have been made unemployed and there is no clarity as to whether they can access the PUP. Can I get such clarity on? I raised the issue with the departmental officials last night but they had no information on it. I need that information as soon as possible. I ask the Minister for some clarity in that regard.

I, and I am sure many others, have had contact from members of the public who are engaged with JobPath through Turas Nua and Seetec. These companies are still insisting that people referred to them attend meetings, go out to seek employment and ring businesses. They say that if people do not do so their payments will be curtailed. We need referrals to JobPath to stop with immediate effect. We also need the JobPath programme to be suspended for the duration of this crisis. I want to see it gone completely but it should at least be suspended while this crisis continues.

There is another issue with regard to workers and thousands of workers are to be seen on unsafe construction sites across the State. I have had contact from employees who work in food processing plants in which there have been confirmed cases of Covid-19. They have genuine concerns because of vulnerable loved ones who may have underlying health issues.

If they take a decision to self-isolate to ensure their loved ones are protected, there is no payment for them. The only option for them is to go to a community welfare officer. That must be examined. While the business might still be operational and the jobs are still available, if people take that decision to protect their loved ones there must be a payment available and they must be entitled to get that payment.

There are many other issues that I and other Deputies have been putting to the Department. Information is very slow to come back. There are explanations for many of these issues, but clarity is needed. There must be a proper line of communication so answers are forthcoming to ensure that people who need these payments can get the appropriate information.

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