Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

A lot of ground indeed, and here is more. I put on record my appreciation of the Minister's efforts to address one of the key anomalies identified in the operation of the temporary wage subsidy scheme and the speed at which he acted under what were difficult circumstances. It was inevitable that there would be anomalies in the scheme, and a number of other Deputies have identified some of those on which they may correspond with the Minister and his Department.

Does the Minister intend to oblige companies of a certain scale that are availing of the wage subsidy scheme to top up their employees' salaries? Will he request that large companies, as defined under the Companies (Accounting) Act 2017, desist from availing of the scheme in the first instance? We are all aware of circumstances where enormous corporations such as Ryanair, having cut the hours of their workforce, have subsequently applied to use, and are using, the scheme to resource their payroll and provide their staff with some of their salary.

To the best of my knowledge, they are not seeking to top that up. That does not sit well with me and should not sit well with anyone in this House. This scheme was designed to assist our SME sector, the real heroes of our economy, that is, those who employ up to 70% of our entire workforce. Will the Minister join his French counterpart in asking that larger companies would desist from using this scheme? I speak here of large companies with enormous turnovers which have posted enormous profits. I ask the Minister to speak to the rationale used by the Revenue Commissioners in terms of the application of force majeure for the purpose of establishing an individual's tax residency. I ask him to elaborate on the thinking behind that. Again, this is a measure that does not sit well with right thinking people. I do not think it is fair that these individuals could potentially see their net wealth surge over the next period of time when front-line workers are forced to exist on low wages. I hope the Minister will consider using his good offices to seek a reversal of this decision because it seems that while most of us think that we are all in this together, there are some people who think they are exceptions and should be treated differently. It seems that the Revenue Commissioners take that view as well.

I ask the Minister to elaborate on the efforts, if any, he has made in recent weeks to implore the banks to pass on interest rate reductions to mortgage holders and those with business loans. We know that we have some of the highest interest rates in the eurozone but we are borrowing money very cheaply. Banks are borrowing money on the markets very cheaply indeed and even a small reduction in mortgage and business loan interest rates would greatly support the business sector and our economy at this very difficult time.

I ask the Minister to comment on the switch to PRSI class J for workers who are under the wage subsidy scheme at this point in time. This is causing a little bit of anxiety at the moment. People want to be sure that the PRSI contributions they are making will not be interrupted and that there is no knock-on effect, ultimately, on the benefits to which they would be entitled.

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