Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with three colleagues, with each of us taking four minutes. I welcome the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Regina Doherty. After four hours of questions on the Revised Estimates, I do not want to be one of those politicians who asks the same questions that were asked earlier just to be seen to be asking them myself. However, I will refer back to the questions and answers concerning the continuation of the Covid payment. I appreciate the reassurances we received this morning that the payment will continue beyond June. It is right that it should continue beyond June and, in fact, it should continue in line with the phased reopening of society that will allow people to go back to work. I really appreciate the reassurance in this regard and there should be an early decision and announcement on it.

Some of the Deputies who heard that reassurance this morning continued to read their prepared scripts, which could end up frightening people that the payment may end. These are some of the same Deputies who, when they found their parachute into opposition, grabbed it like it was some sort of electoral lotto win. I do not know what the shape of the next Government will be, but I can tell my constituents and anybody else that if Fianna Fáil is involved in government, it will be to protect the very people who are on the Covid payment. That is why I am not running away from government. That is what I am about, and it includes having the opportunity to fight for those who want to retire at the age of 65.

I have two questions on the Revised Estimates. The first concerns the back to work enterprise allowance scheme, which is run by the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection. There are many people struggling to come off social welfare to start their own business but they are not able to avail of many of the supports provided by the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Humphreys. Will the Minister, Ms Doherty, consider allowing people in those circumstances to stay on the back to work enterprise allowance scheme for, perhaps, six or 12 months longer, and allowing them a small grant to reboot their businesses?

Second, I know the Minister is very familiar with the Finglas centre which supports people who are unemployed in that area and that she has met the people who run it previously. However, the crisis they were in before has now got much worse and they have had to close the charity shop, which helps to fund their service. Regardless of when the centre can reopen, there will be real funding issues for it. Will the Minister work with the Department of Rural and Community Development to support the centre to spread its funding across more than just its community employment scheme and allow it to help some of the really vulnerable people in my area?

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