Dáil debates

Thursday, 28 May 2020

Estimates for Public Services 2020 (Resumed)

 

6:15 pm

Photo of Catherine MurphyCatherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate that. I need to ask some further questions.

If rent assistance is the primary focus, more resources are required because it is picking up the slack for the work that would have been done by local authorities through housing assistance payments. Many people who have never experienced unemployment are contacting me and asking questions about their rent. Those people never expected to have to look for a subsidy to help them pay their rent. There is a lack of information out there and it would be useful if that could be beefed up.

I want to ask about maternity payments. I have been trying to follow, to some degree, what has been said over the course of the day although I did not hear all of it. The Minister said earlier that social welfare payments are based on EU regulations and maternity payments will be a part of a Europe-wide initiative. Is that wrong? The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission has stated that it would like to express concern and set out its view that there is a strong argument that the exclusion from the scheme of women returning from maternity leave is contrary to EU law. That is based on EU law. Are all of the scenarios being captured in the changes that are proposed? I addressed the Minister for Finance on this topic last week and he thought it would be addressed through the taxation code. Clearly, there has been a change now because the taxation code would favour some people over others, depending on their income. The Minister might let me know if it is intended to capture all of the scenarios for women, including those who were going on maternity leave, those who were on maternity leave, those who have returned to work and those who have lost income as a consequence.

Is there any intention to deal with people who have an underlying health condition of such severity that it would be contrary to good health for them to go back to work? For example, I am thinking of somebody with whom I am dealing who has stage 4 cancer and does not qualify for a Covid-19 payment. There will be exceptions like that. I will leave the remaining time for the Minister to reply.

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