John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

While more than 500,000 applications for the Covid-19 unemployment payment have been processed, discrimination is at the core of the policy. There is discrimination against certain cohorts of society, one being the over-66s. Many who have been forced to work longer to continue to pay their bills, rent and mortgages now find themselves out of work and are being discriminated against because they cannot apply for the Covid-19 pandemic payment. They pay their taxes and have done so throughout their working lives. The criteria need to be changed. Many of those affected are self-employed and do not qualify for the wage subsidy scheme. The eligibility criteria need to be changed to ensure anyone over 66 should be able to apply for the Covid-19 payment.

The other cohort of people is cross-Border workers. Many of them have lost their jobs. They work in this State and pay their taxes to it. Solicitors have checked out legally the position on people who work in the fields in question. The excuse given by the Government is, that under EU rules, it cannot apply the payment to the cross-Border workers. We have information that contradicts that. Has the Minister talked to the European Commissioner about this? Has he got advice from the Attorney General on it? What is happening is unfair and the discrimination affecting the two cohorts needs to end.

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