Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I think we can all appreciate that these are exceptional times, but there was a moment within them when it seemed like we were all in this together. A crisis hit us and while we were rocked to our core, our instincts appeared to be to protect the collective. Across the political divide we found common ground in our understanding that this pandemic does not discriminate between rich and poor and the policies that we enacted quickly were ones that I would argue were founded in solid socially democratic principles.

A single-tier health service based on need, not ability to pay, appeared overnight. We applauded our healthcare professionals, knowing full well that we owed them a debt of gratitude which will require more than that gesture. We found a renewed sense of appreciation for our retail workers, food processors and cleaners, who absolutely lived up to their designation as essential workers. They are essential now, but many would argue that they always have been essential. The State started to pay childcare workers. Most radically of all, the State enacted a welfare safety net that provided dignity to those in need and ensured they could meet the cost of living without experiencing the difficulties faced by the 680,000 people in this country who lived below the poverty line before the pandemic struck. The pandemic unemployment payment was always understood to be temporary. Its symbolic power was much more significant. It meant recognition on the part of the State that welfare rates were too low. There always seemed to be a cohort whom the State would allow to live in poverty, but that no longer seemed acceptable when the more professional classes were at risk of experiencing the same reality.

In the last couple of weeks, the powers that be have rightly started to stress the need to hold firm. Despite the optimism caused by falling death and infection rates and the loosening of restrictions, we must continue to be vigilant because the danger has not yet passed. Neither, alas, has the spectre of austerity, or the habit of punching down and blaming low-paid workers and vulnerable groups for the enormity of the economic challenge we are about to face. The rhetoric has changed now. It no longer seems that we are all in this together. I welcome the fact that the Minister has disassociated herself from certain comments, but she is in an anomalous position. She must confront the statements made during the last week by the Taoiseach and spokespersons of both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. They have started to see unfairness in the system. They have taken aim at those who were on a low wage and now, shockingly, have the opportunity to avail of a payment of €350 per week.

Perhaps those who cry foul would do well to think of who these workers are. It is important to develop a fuller picture. These workers previously worked in what we have come to call the "gig economy". They are likely to be on the minimum wage or just above it. They serve us our meals in restaurants and pubs and very rarely get to spend weekends or evenings with their families. When Ministers spoke of full employment in recent years, this cohort put the lie to their statements. They were spoken of under the breath because of their precarious employment, difficult hours and low pay. These are the people to whom the rent freeze really mattered, who pay extortionate rents to live in overcrowded conditions. It is this group which will be most impacted when we cut the pandemic unemployment payment because they are consistently exploited in our labour market.

I challenge those who say we should reduce a person's wage, whether they are the business groups who have been speaking out in recent days, Members of this Chamber or certain columnists. We should introduce legislation that protects this cohort of workers and ensures they are paid a living wage, are safe in their employment and no longer face precarious working hours. Instead, we seem to be talking about making inequality the deliberate outcome of our social welfare system. In a decent society, the State would trust that money accrued by vulnerable groups in this way would return to the State coffers naturally, through the VAT levied when a single mother spends it on food or a pair of football boots, or when a person previously on a low income buys a coffee or has a pint with friends. That money will come back naturally. We have heard some incredible figures in these Estimates. These payments will stimulate every town, city and high street shop. They will provide essential stimulus for our economy as it starts to open up again.

I would like to ask the Minister a question at this point. I might come back if there is time. I refer to a report in the Irish Examineron Friday which made reference to some of these payments. The most worrying aspect was the so-called "clawback".

It was in inverted commas so I presume it came from some departmental official. It stated recipients of emergency payments such as lone parents who are in receipt of other welfare payments are likely to face a clawback of money of more than €1,000 by way of a retrospective means test. The word "clawback" is dehumanising and should not be part of our vocabulary in this instance. Is it the Minister's understanding that people who are receiving the pandemic unemployment payment and who are in vulnerable cohorts such as one-parent families may have their wages reduced in the weeks and months to come?

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