Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We will take four minutes each.

We have been through challenging times before, most recently when the economy crashed and brought in an era of austerity. The austerity measures brought in often targeted the most vulnerable in society. Savage cuts were made to benefits, including the back-to-school allowance, the jobseeker’s allowance, the one-parent family allowance, the carer’s allowance, the means-tested fuel allowance, pensions and much more.

With a caretaker government behaving in an almost cavalier manner and with unelected individuals holding ministerial positions making decisions for us with a minimum of scrutiny and accountability, how can we expect anything but more of the same?

We know that this is not what the public wants, that this is not what they voted for and it is not the change the electorate was crying out for. Serious decisions must be made in this crisis and they require proper oversight. This is effectively not happening now and this is making a joke out of parliamentary norms.

People have to be in place who can be held accountable for those decisions and we as public representatives should be able to hold these people to account. We are facing a potential crisis in employment and we need stability to deal with this situation. Those who have lost their jobs need to be given every opportunity to be able to diversify and retrain in a new career.

We have a very well educated and qualified workforce which wants to go back to work. We should explore every opportunity for people to retrain or return to education as soon as possible to allow them to develop a new career path. This is crucial for those whose employment opportunities or skill sets have been adversely affected by the consequences of the lockdown.

We must recognise that the lockdown and the loss of jobs could give rise to higher levels of poverty. Poverty can arise from being on low pay or being reliant on state payments such as pensions, disability allowances or because people are carers for a loved one. This pandemic is creating a new potential for poverty. People are making enormous sacrifices in their lives and their employment by adhering to the guidelines to stay at home. The Government has a responsibility to those who have followed the guidelines and stayed home and must continue to support them. Undoubtedly, if the Covid payment is stopped more people will be driven into poverty. Workers who have been told to stay at home still have mortgages, bills or rent to pay. Many, for example taxi drivers, are self-employed and still have to pay for overheads. People must not find themselves unduly burdened by additional debt which can propel them into poverty. This in the long term will be a significant cost to the State through lost revenue from taxes, additional welfare payments and the real prospect of a significant rise in homelessness as people default on mortgages or are evicted because they are not able to pay their rent. The majority want to return to work and will do so at the earliest possible opportunity and will also return to paying taxes, universal social charges and PRSI. The pandemic payment legislation is a blunt instrument that excludes workers under 18 years and over 66 years from the scheme. This should be reviewed and the Minister has said she is doing so.

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