Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I will make a brief opening statement and then ask questions and I might get the answers one after another if possible. There was much to admire in the Department's response to the Covid-19 crisis. It was swift and I cannot imagine the amount of work the officials and staff throughout the country engaged in. We really do owe them a debt of gratitude as we do to the Minister. She is the only Minister who has picked up the phone to me and let me know what is happening. I had to chase everyone else. I thank her for that.

The €350 being given to people experiencing unemployment during the crisis has meant they can live with dignity. It has afforded comfort to families. If it was not available, we would certainly be in a much worse situation than we have been to date.

The rapidity with which the measures were introduced has caused some very large omissions in terms of who is being left out of the scheme. We have spoken about them substantially over the past hour. I will raise some of them again and ask for further information. Perhaps the Minister will be able to give me further clarity on some of these questions.

The exclusion of women returning to work from the temporary wage subsidy scheme is not specifically related to the Minister's Department but she did mention the scheme in her opening address. It is a very important issue. I have asked parliamentary questions on this omission from the scheme of women returning to work. One of the sentences included in each response has me a little worried. The explanation of the conditions included in the legislation which have allowed the exclusion is that it was specifically designed with a view to preventing abuse of the scheme. I am concerned that, so obsessed were we with the fear that some would choose to cheat the system, we locked in conditions that ultimately caused terrible discrimination to happen. While this was not done purposely, it is an anomaly and a lacuna in the law. Perhaps this has happened as a consequence of the fact we are fearful, as the Department often seems to be, that some would cheat and so we create conditions that are unfair.

Another issue on which perhaps the Minister will be able to comment is the fact that the Minister for Finance has already acted and changed the scheme on a number of occasions. He added the temporary weekly subsidy and increased it from 70% to 80%. He made this change pending legislative amendment. Why can we not do this now to bring women who were excluded into the scheme?

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