James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will raise a number of important issues, the first of which is domestic violence. This is a very dangerous time for anybody who is trapped at home. The advice is to stay at home and that it is the safest place to be but for many women and children it is the most unsafe place they can be. Their abusers are very often at home with them for a longer time. I ask the Minister to assure the House that the financial needs of the local authorities, the Department of Justice and Equality or the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection will be met to ensure that those women and children - and, in a few cases, men - can avail of the supports they need.

I also wish to raise an issue that has been raised by numerous others, which is maternity leave and the exclusion of women returning from maternity leave from the Covid-19 temporary wage subsidy scheme. This is deeply unfair to those women. It needs to be changed and a mechanism must be found to do so.

I will also raise the issue of those over 66 who have been laid off from work and, again, excluded from the Covid-19 payments. People are increasingly working beyond the age of 66. For some this is because they are able to while for others it is because they have no choice. As a result of the changes in the housing market over the past ten years, more and more people over 66 find themselves paying rent. In the past, people who reached that age would have hoped to have their mortgages paid off or, if they were in local authority social housing, that their rent would have decreased in line with their income decreasing as they moved to the old age pension. Increasingly, older people are at the beck and call of landlords and are increasingly under financial pressure, forcing them to work. They should not have been excluded.

I raise the issue of small businesses that will try to begin work again. They need certainty. They need assurance as to their position in the coming weeks so that they can plan for how much funding they will need to borrow from the banks and decide how many employees they can afford to take back. They need that certainty in respect of the extent of payments.

I also ask the Minister to make inquiries with regard to section 12 of the Redundancy Payments Act 1967. Under this section, employees who have been laid off can trigger redundancy with their employer if they have not had an update on returning to work for four consecutive weeks. This provision exists for a very good reason but, understandably, this period was extended to 12 weeks until the end of May as a result of the pandemic situation. Employers and employees now want certainty. They want to know whether they will be able to trigger redundancy under the Act.

I appreciate the Minister does not have much time left to respond but I ask him to do his best.

See this speech in context