Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Spokespeople for Fianna Fáil and Ministers from Fine Gael have been expressing horror at the idea that people who may have earned less when working before Covid-19 are now getting €350 a week. They are trying to justify suggestions that the €350 payment should be cut for those people and many others who have already seen a reduction in income. Does the Taoiseach think that is fair? Does it chime with the motto "we are all in this together" for Ministers and Deputies who earn multiples of €350 a week to tell people who were essentially earning poverty wages that €350 a week is too much for them? For example, I met a woman named Lisa, who has given me permission to mention her name, on the Debenhams picket. She has worked for Debenhams for 20 years, since she was 16. She earned just under €350 a week but with overtime she sometimes earned more. She was unceremoniously sacked by Debenhams and thrown on the scrap heap. She says she does not want to be getting the €350 payment. She is applying for jobs but she cannot get one at the moment. Does the Taoiseach honestly think it is fair to Lisa and people like her, who have worked all their lives and never claimed social welfare, to even consider cutting their €350 payment?

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