Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. He started by talking about funerals.

I know this is a really difficult issue for many people and families, where only ten people are allowed to attend the funeral. I have spoken to some people who had to make that awful decision of choosing which ten and then explaining to the 11th, 12th or 13th person why he or she could not be there. I think we have all seen the scenes of people gathering in a car park or along the street, which is sometimes touching but also really painful. We understand that it is a really difficult thing for many people. Whether the person died of Covid or not, it is just as difficult trying to get through a funeral of that nature with these rules. We have started a discussion with the churches about we might be able to amend that over the next couple of weeks, and much of that may be more to do with the size of the church than anything else because a large church could take more people with social distancing than a small church. The idea is to develop a practical solution to that, and protocols already exist in other countries such as Germany and Italy.

In addition, in my discussions with the Catholic bishops a few weeks ago, they were particularly interested to know what we might be able to do to allow some baptisms and weddings to happen again. They, again, would be small, but a lot of people have been waiting a long time to christen their child. Obviously, we want to make all these things possible sooner rather than later, but to do so safely.

Childcare centres will be allowed to open at the end of June. I am not saying they will just be allowed to open, with the matter up to them alone; they will, of course, require guidance, as Deputy McDonald noted. They will require guidance on what changes they need to make, at least a few weeks before the opening date so they can digest and implement it. There may well be some centres that decide not to open. That will be true in any sector but I believe it will be possible for the vast majority to open and we will work with them to do that.

On the pandemic unemployment payment, I reiterate that anyone currently in receipt of the payment does not need to be concerned about it being stopped on 8 June. It will continue to be paid beyond 8 June; we just have not agreed an end date for it yet. We want people to have the opportunity to get their job back, and while some people in sectors such as construction have, in most sectors they have not yet, which is why it will need to be extended beyond 8 June. If people are offered their job back and they refuse that job, they will lose the pandemic unemployment payment, but the vast majority of people have not yet even had that opportunity, which is why it needs to be extended.

The payment was a temporary, emergency measure and it is not affordable or sustainable for it to go on forever. We are just playing politics with people if we somehow pretend that is possible. It will have to come to an end at some point and it would not be right to create different classes of unemployed people, with people unemployed before Covid getting one set of benefits, people made unemployed during Covid getting a different set of benefits and people who lose their jobs after Covid getting a different set of benefits again. That would not be right or fair so it will all need to be merged again, but these are not decisions for this week or even next week.

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