Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank my colleague for sharing time. While some of the issues I want to raise are not directly related to defence, as the day goes by, more and more calls have been coming in from people and businesses seeking clarity on some of the issues. One of them is around the temporary wage subsidy scheme where businesses lose 25% of their revenue.

Many people are looking for clarity about this. Is it during that three-month period or will it be over a 12-month period? There seems to be serious concern that it might be a 12-month period, in which case Revenue would be seeking to claw back moneys from those businesses.

Businesses are concerned about the provisions for inability to pay staff. Will names be published and would that in some way declare insolvency, and could they be followed by other creditors? I notice in the legislation that there can be no redundancies during this period. Many businesses are concerned that there is no guarantee that after the three months, all of those who are employed can come back to their jobs and there could be significant problems around redundancy, which of course workers are absolutely and fully entitled to, but which if it were to come at once would pose a serious problem for business. It is great to see the proposals for those who have recently retired from the Army, and for health professionals to come back but I have received several queries from recently retired gardaí to know if there are any proposals for them to come back to serve the State.

Like many others in this House today, I want to add my voice to the utter condemnation of those who are coughing and spitting in people's faces. It is unthinkable and the full rigours of the law should absolutely be applied to those persons.

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