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

This issue gained some prominence a few days after the wage subsidy scheme was launched. I acknowledge the co-operation of this House in allowing the passage of the wage subsidy scheme such that we now have over 400,000 citizens depending on a job because of that wage subsidy scheme and over 50,000 employers. In its absence, our live register and pandemic unemployment payment recipient figures would be even higher. I will use this opportunity to restate what I said at the time, namely, that the payment of the subsidy will be taxed later in the year. The reason is that we have to maintain equivalence between that payment and, for example, many social welfare payments that are taxed. Take, for example, a situation where we might have two firms, one of which has seen its income fall and is on the wage subsidy scheme, while the income of the other has fallen but not by enough for it to be on the wage subsidy scheme.

In that case I have a duty to make sure that the employees for both schemes are treated the same way.

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