Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

The reason I am convinced that the Government is going to make changes to the Covid payment in the future is that both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have stated that it is not logical for the payment to compensate certain workers for more than the income they actually lost. There is no doubt in my mind that we will reach a situation where some workers will receive the Covid payment in the same fashion in which they currently do but where the payment others receive will be altered. We are being asked to back an Estimate which is already in direct contradiction of the Government's stated policy on the Covid payments. The Minister also says we must plan for another Estimate.

In other words, the Estimate before us today will be superseded by another Estimate. The Minister is giving us no detail on her planned changes to the Covid payment for some people. We are in the dark. Our hands are tied and we are being blackmailed. We are being told, "Pass these Estimates even though we will not give you the detail or the whole system will fall apart." Given the democratic twilight zone we are in, it is unfair that we are being asked to do that at the moment.

I want to raise a number of other issues. One of these is the stunning situation whereby mothers on maternity leave have so far been left out of the Covid payment scheme. Will the Minister guarantee that individual workers' pay will be backdated in respect of any income they have lost?

The issue of low pay has been part of the debate in recent weeks. We should not be having this debate divorced from the fact that Ireland is an outlier when it comes to low pay. We are the second worst country in the OECD in this regard, with 23% of our workers existing on low pay. Can the Minister guarantee that any changes made to the Covid payment in future will allow for people to be able to pay for rent, for the roof over their heads and for food, healthcare and education, and that we will not expect people to live on an income that does not allow them to achieve these basic staples in their lives?

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