Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I would appreciate if the Minister could arrange for officials to respond to any of the questions he does not have time to answer after my remarks.

Covid-19 has fundamentally changed Ireland's economic and social landscape. At the end of 2019, an average of 2.3 million people were at work. Today, almost 1.2 million people are in receipt of income supports. We are being asked to approve the €6.84 billion Estimate to continue income supports. The State is likely to run a €30 billion deficit for 2020. Reigniting our economy will present significant challenges, as we all know, and a business as usual, one size fits all approach will not work. It is estimated that 2.1 million people will eventually return to work, approximately 90% of pre-Covid levels. That 90% will present challenges, and those 10% who do not return to work cannot be left behind.

Our first step should be to reassure people in sectors that remain closed on Government advice that they will continue to be supported.

Talk of winners and losers is not helpful and I urge people to stop using socially divisive language. We are all in this together and the public is very much in tune with that.

We must also do everything to support existing jobs. We need changes to the pandemic unemployment payment and wage subsidy schemes, about which I have spoken in this Chamber previously, to allow for more flexibility and support for new work practices. Where possible, workers should be allowed to return to their companies part time and the Government should support work sharing schemes. Incentives should be put in place to support those working from home. Critical industries such as tourism, hospitality and our bus and coach industry need support. We should encourage employment by these industries by cutting the VAT rate and providing other supports.

The next Government must prepare an inclusive social and economic recovery plan. We must invest in people. Anyone who has lost his or her job as a result of this pandemic must be given support and the opportunity to retrain and reskill. The risk of long-term unemployment is real, especially for the 120,000 young people in receipt of the pandemic unemployment payment. The back to education allowance must be opened to anyone in receipt of pandemic income supports. We need to see an ambitious capital programme that takes advantage of low-cost borrowing to invest in infrastructure. Now is the time to invest in green infrastructure such as the Sutton to Sandycove cycleway in my constituency and greenways right across the country. The single biggest investment, however, must be in public housing. We need an ambitious plan to build thousands of homes.

Any measures put in place must deliver an ambitious recovery in which no one is left behind. Will the Minister commit to ensuring an inclusive recovery in which no one is left behind?

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