Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate that and I take the Ceann Comhairle's advice. It is revealing of the attitude of some in our society and is very troubling indeed. Given the preponderance of low pay in this country, with 23% of all workers on low pay, it goes to shows we have a big issue and we need to be careful how we treat the pandemic unemployment payment and the language that we use over the next period. It troubles me. It is divisive, unfair and it is not on. We need to be careful about that.

The Social Insurance Fund is under extreme pressure and will be in deficit this year. In the context of Government formation talks, it calls into question commitments made during the election by Fianna Fáil, the Green Party and others around stopping any increase to the pension age.

Commitments were made and I expect them to be delivered on. We are going too far, too fast and too soon. I believe there is no requirement on us to bring the pension age up to 67 and I think it is a matter of intergenerational solidarity that we keep the pension age as it is at the moment. Many people have made enormous contributions over 40 plus years and have essentially signed a contract with the State to allow them to be able to retire at the point where they thought they would. Many will choose to work a little longer and they should be supported in doing so, but we should deliver on their expectation and the entitlement of those who have made those contributions.

I will now move to the question of redundancy payments. The Minister has allocated an additional €50 million to the statutory redundancy fund for insolvencies, an increase of approximately €30 million on the original Estimate. As we all do, the Minister has anticipated that there will be more insolvencies and liquidations as businesses battle through the current challenges we face. Will the Minister accept the changes suggested in a letter she will have received from ICTU this week and make changes to the redundancy scenarios where we have essentially precluded staff who have been laid off by companies from claiming redundancy from them? The quid pro quoshould be that redundancy should be essentially stopped. I supported a Sinn Féin amendment to that end in a debate here in the Dáil on the emergency legislation a few weeks ago and I believe it should be done. Will the Minister also go after the related assets of companies that move assets around and move them out of the reach of creditors? I refer to companies that decide to swan off into the sunset and leave the Department and other creditors hanging in the wind. I do not see much hope of that in the Estimates that were presented to us today.

I have two more points to make. The first is not directly related to the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection. The Safe Pass programme has essentially been suspended. I have been receiving calls from trade unions and construction workers who have returned home in the context of the pandemic who need to renew their safe pass to allow them to get back to work but the system has been suspended. This is a quick way of getting younger people in particular back to work and it is something we should explore with SOLAS and the Department of Education and Skills. It is also the season in which contractors hire apprentices and we cannot let it go by without giving apprentices the opportunities they need.

The Minister is responsible for employment as well as social protection but I do not see anything in the Estimates about any great interventions concerning training, upskilling and activation. The Minister appears to be telling us that some programmes will be proposed by her in the coming weeks but people need to hear how, for example, the Government will use some of the €100 billion that is available from the European Commission through the SURE programme to provide income supports and training and upskilling opportunities. What we need is a new deal for a new generation. As was the case with the previous recession, the reality is that younger people will unfortunately be more adversely affected. However, we can change that, as it does not have to be the case if we invest in their training now.

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