Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for their questions. I will respond to the ones that were most common from all the contributions and deal with the other questions via correspondence. Several speakers raised the issue of women who were on maternity leave and are now looking to come back to work and access the wage subsidy scheme. I want to confirm to the House that I aim to bring a proposal to the Cabinet tomorrow to resolve that issue. It was absolutely my intention to ensure all were treated equally in front of the wage subsidy scheme. I want to ensure those mothers who were and are on maternity leave, and who are planning to and want to come back to work, are treated equally to those who are already in work and already on the wage subsidy scheme. There were difficulties presented by how the legislation was drafted. I heard what Deputies said in the House last week on this issue. The Revenue Commissioners and I have been working on it over the past fortnight and I believe we can find a way to ensure that mothers who are on the maternity leave scheme and are coming back to work are treated equally to anybody else who is already on or planning to be on the wage subsidy scheme.

I will deal briefly with some of the questions that relate to the Revised Estimates. I confirm to Deputy Cowen that it will be the case that further Estimates will be needed later on in the year in respect of the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection and that the costs of the wage subsidy scheme are contained in this Vote. In regard to legislation that is relevant to me, it continues to be the legislation dealing with tax liabilities and with the credit guarantee. In regard to the timings for other Estimates, I believe there will be some Estimates that will need to be dealt with at the end of June and the majority will have to be dealt with by the middle of July.

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