Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Today we again acknowledge those who have been lost to the virus, now almost 2,000 souls across our island. We extend our sympathies and solidarity to their families, friends and communities.

The Taoiseach correctly set out that we will gradually unwind the emergency measures we have asked people to live with in recent weeks. I think we all agree that is the sensible, prudent and only way to proceed. It is worth acknowledging that the heroic efforts of those on the front line will need to continue for some time to come. We need to find a modus vivendi, a way of living with this virus, and that will be extremely challenging. People look to the future with anticipation and hope as well as with a level of anxiety because their health and that of their families must come first.

I wish to ask the Taoiseach specifically about the mooted childcare support scheme for front-line workers.

Nurses, doctors, health care assistants, and others we rely on at the front line of the Covid-19 pandemic, had a legitimate expectation that, as and from Monday, they would avail of childcare under the scheme the Minister announced last Thursday. Last night, however, it was announced that this scheme would in fact be cancelled, and those who would rely on this childcare discovered this fact through the media. The stakeholders across sectors discovered it by way of press release. The primary reason for the collapse of this scheme is that the insurance industry says it will not underwrite or cover Covid-19 related incidents. It says it has been making the Government aware of this for weeks on end, yet this scheme was announced. It seems extraordinary that the Government announced a scheme that was sure to fail.

Was the Taoiseach aware of this insurance issue? Was he aware that the insurer Allianz was saying it would not cover Covid-19 related incidents? Why, therefore, did the announcement go ahead? Why did the Government announce a scheme that was so fatally undermined and flawed? Was the Taoiseach aware that this would prove unworkable because of the stance of the insurance industry? We can fix this but why is it that the Government has not sought to indemnify childcare workers in this Covid-19 emergency to provide that support and assistance to our front-line workers? Why will it not extend the indemnity that applies already to some 200,000 workers - that scheme exists - to cover those childcare workers who are now needed to support the front line in a very direct way, and to indemnify them for that Covid-19 risk? That seems to be the solution in the here and now for this dilemma.

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