Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will point out a few anomalies. What is needed first and foremost is clarity and certainty going forward. The Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection in her address earlier alluded to the fact the Covid payment and other payment would continue beyond June. That is not enough certainty or clarity for Deputies who are receiving queries on a daily basis from constituents who do not know what their position will be in a few months' time. We need certainty, clarity, and a detailed plan going forward. Will the payments be tapered? Will it be done on a sector by sector basis, etc.? We need more detail.

The issue of the over 66s has been aired a lot in this Chamber already, and there was a detailed debate yesterday around the State's treatment of the elderly. Some people made statements in terms of them being treated as second class citizens, and here we are excluding them from the Covid payment and wage subsidy scheme. That is turning our backs on the group of people who pulled us, and their children, through the last recession and who deserve much better.

I will give an example. Graham is living in west Cork and has a small business on a high street. He has had to close the business because of restrictions, but he cannot avail of any of the payments because he is over the age of 66. He cannot avail of Covid-19 pandemic unemployment payment, PUP, or the wage subsidy scheme. He has nowhere to go. He has utilities and bills to pay, but he cannot pay them. We need to include the over 66s within these payments.

Another section of society that has been incredibly hard hit, although it is more than just a section of society and makes up more than 50% of the population, is women. It has been well documented that women have been, and will be, hardest hit through this lockdown and pandemic, yet we are turning our backs on them, particularly women who are pregnant and on maternity leave. Many were due to return to work in March and have been excluded from the wage subsidy scheme. That anomaly needs to be fixed straight away. Not only that, some women who were on maternity leave and who can go back to work, but whose business or place of work is still closed, cannot avail of the PUP. There are women returning from maternity leave whose businesses are open and who can or are expected to go back to work but they cannot access childcare because of the battle within that sector. That is not good enough. What we are asking for, and there is an online petition signed by thousands, is an extension to maternity benefit for a three month period. This would at least go some way to addressing that issue.

This should be done on a sector by sector basis. I am talking in particular about the tourism sector, one that is massive in my area of west Cork. Tourism and seasonal workers have no clarity in terms of their future. It has been well documented that the tourism sector will be longest impacted by this; the impact will be felt for a long time to come. We need to approach it on a sector by sector basis, particularly with regard to these Covid payments. It is important because that will keep the money in regional rural areas like west Cork and Kerry. As stated in the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, report, austerity is not the way. We need to keep money in circulation, and this needs to be treated on a sector by sector basis.

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