Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputies Doherty and Brady. Deputy Doherty referred to the wage subsidy scheme. I apologise to him because I should have notified him of the detail on what we were doing in advance. I want to put that on the record. I was under some urgent pressure to try to get the changes in place so payrolls could be affected quickly. Notwithstanding the urgency, I should have notified the Deputy of the change that was coming. On the question he put to me, I appreciate that he welcomed the changes we have made. I have made those changes because I am aware of the pressures workers on lower incomes and their employers were facing in comparison to the scale of the pandemic payment and other benefits that could have been available to them. My genuine judgment is that by moving the subsidy up to 85% for incomes just over €24,000, we have made a very significant contribution to bridging the gap. If an employer is in a position to top it up at all, a level of payment will be reached that is comparable to what will be available elsewhere. As the Deputy is aware, we have made the decision not to taper off the payment if an employer decides to top up a bit more in order to get to a level of income that is comparable to other forms of income that could be available.

With regard to the mortgage break, I reiterate that nobody should in any way be profiting from the public health crisis we are facing due to Covid-19. I am informed that more than 40,000 people have now availed of the mortgage break. I am aware of some of the issues that have now been identified by a number of Deputies. I plan to engage with the banking sector and its representatives again because I want to underscore that nobody should be profiting from what we face as a country.

Let me turn to business interruption insurance.

Insurance Ireland has come back to me - Deputy Troy made this point to me - and has said that it now accepts that there is no difference at all between advice issued by Government and a direction issued by Government as to whether a business should close down. I plan to engage further with the insurance sector on this matter in the coming days now that this principle is clear.

To respond to Deputy Brady, I dealt with one matter relating to those over 66 a moment ago. I am not underestimating for a moment the contribution they have made to our country, to themselves and to their families, but I make the point again that the pandemic payment is based on how we make jobseekers' payments available and such payments are given up to the age of 66.

I have engaged with the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection with regard to the matter of frontier workers. The Department and I are clear that what we are doing is absolutely compliant with EU law. If the Deputy has a view to the contrary, and opinion to back up that view, I would be very interested to see it.

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