Dáil debates

Thursday, 28 May 2020

Estimates for Public Services 2020 - Vote 37 - Employment Affairs and Social Protection (Revised Estimate)

 

4:15 pm

Photo of Gino KennyGino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Deputy Paul Murphy.

There has been a clamour in certain sectors of society that the pandemic unemployment payment should be either immediately cut or tapered off. Much dog-whistling comes with this. The narrative is that people on the Covid payment are living it up. That is very selective by the people who say it. It is usually from the very top and is socially poisonous. That narrative was driven home during debates here on social housing many times. There was a narrative that social housing is somehow free, one does not pay any rent and so forth. I really object to that. There is now a narrative that there is free money regrading Covid. Nothing could be further from the truth. Most people working before this pandemic were paying PRSI and income tax. Ironically they will still pay PRSI and income tax by the end of the year if they get the payment. That type of narrative is socially poisonous.

The facts are that more than one third of those on the Covid payment were earning less than €300 a week before they were laid off. Ireland has the third highest level of low pay in the OECD with 23% of full-time workers in low-paid work while the OECD average is 16%. That sizeable 23% are the working poor. They work very hard for a very bad wage.

One thing that has been shown to us over the past three months is that working people who do not earn a significant income make a significant contribution to society. Workers in supermarkets and shops, those driving people to work, are on the front line of this pandemic. It shows how much of a contribution they make to society. Sometimes, however, they are pilloried in society.

Will the Department continue the Covid payment for those workers who cannot go back to work until this public emergency finishes, either due to health reasons or safety at work issues?

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