Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the Minister for Finance is not the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection and we will support the measures that he has introduced in the Bill. Deputy Connolly highlighted the need for more Dáil sittings to discuss these issues. This is an area of particular importance to many people. As somebody suggested, we have got rid of a two-tier health system and created a two-tier social welfare system. It begs the question of whether, if €205 is not enough for people to live on and it has been raised to €350, it is enough for pensioners, jobseekers, those with disabilities and many more. We would argue there should be a straightforward social payment of €350 for everybody.

A number of questions need to be teased out with the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection. One that has come up quite a bit concerns workers who feel vulnerable because they have an underlying health issue or somebody they live with at home has an underlying health issue. If they believe they need to self-isolate but do not have the two symptoms plus a fever that the doctors now require to tell them to isolate themselves, and they do not have access to a test, are they to continue to work in conditions of extreme worry and stress about the potential threats or risks to their families or would they be entitled to the payment of €350? I asked this at the briefing the other day and it is very unclear. It is a question that constantly comes up and it particularly arises, and was mentioned this morning, in regard to building workers. In the interests of all of society, those who believe they need to self-isolate should be entitled to that basic payment in order to live.

I raise the question of the Health and Safety Authority, HSA, because I think it falls in the area of this Department. In all of this discussion about non-essential work, the exposure of building workers, the lack of oversight on protocols needed to keep us safe and prevent the spread of the virus, what is the role of the HSA? Should its staff not now be checking furiously on the building sites and shutting down those that are not compliant with the protocols concerning Covid-19? It strikes me that many of those staff probably are either working from home or sitting there not doing much. Their role, however, is fundamental to this situation. At the end of the day, if the virus does spread throughout the building industry because it is not being shut down, will the HSA stand over that? Is it not the role of the HSA to stand over the health and safety of workers and the conditions in which they work?

I was also asked to raise another anomaly concerning lone parents. Lone parents applying for a lone parent payment are in a long queue already. Part of the application involves the visit of an inspector to applicants' homes to check out the details. That is not going to happen when we all have to keep socially distanced. I would not argue for inspectors to call to homes, for their safety and that of those in the homes of the lone parents being visited. In this context, I am requesting that the payment be made in faith and that the inspections be carried out later, when we come through this crisis.

There is also the question of rent supplements. There is discussion about their reintroduction, but there is very little clarity concerning the criteria and conditions under which those payments might be made. Again, I think the right thing to do in this crisis is to have a rent freeze. That would cut out all the need for red tape around a supplement but would ensure that nobody, as in the case of mortgage holders, would have to pay rent during this crisis. I know the Minister is not in a position to address all these questions but it does raise the need for some forum where we can talk to the Minister and tease these things out properly.

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