David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing my time with Deputies Conway-Walsh and Patricia Ryan. I ask that the Ceann Comhairle be ruthless and let me know when my time is up. I will ask the Minister a number of questions and use my time to go back and forth between us.

In his response to Deputy Michael McGrath in respect of women returning from maternity leave being excluded from the wage subsidy scheme, the Minister said the matter was being examined. I think the question the Deputy was putting related to whether primary legislation was necessary. The Minister said he was getting advice on the matter. On 15 April, the Minister announced that the subsidy would increase from 70% to 85% for a group of employees, despite the clear provisions of the legislation. My colleague, Deputy Pearse Doherty, wrote to the Minister on 20 April and sought legal advice as to how that change was made in the absence of legislation. The Minister replied that he had asked Revenue to operate the scheme as if the legislation provided for 85% and not 70%, promising that the necessary change would be made to the legislation further down the line. If that mechanism can be used to change the percentage from 70% to 85%, surely the Minister can use the same mechanism to instruct Revenue to deal with the issue of women on maternity benefit.

I think there is cross-party consensus in the Chamber, including in the Minister's party, that the current position is unacceptable and discriminatory and needs to be sorted. Let us sort it collectively. I ask the Minister to answer my direct question. Given that he has already used the mechanism to increase the percentage from 70% to 85%, can he not do exactly the same for the group of women I outlined to get this issue sorted quickly?

See this speech in context