Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for acknowledging the confirmation we gave this morning that the Covid payment will extend well beyond its original end date, which was 9 June. There is real merit in making adaptations to the back to work enterprise allowance scheme but that would require legislation.

The Deputy will probably be part of the next Government and I encourage whoever is privileged to be in my position to look at that.

The Finglas centre and other wonderful organisations around the country are going to require extra access to the Dormant Accounts Fund and some of the Pobal supports for those that need them. That should be a concerted effort when we reopen. Certain people will fall between the cracks in the enterprise supports that the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Humphreys, has introduced and we must ensure we have a secondary set of funds to look after those people and ensure they do what we need them to do, which is to activate the people who will not have work in September or October into the new roles that will be created by the new economy.

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