Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will take eight minutes for toing and froing with the Minister and will leave four minutes each for Deputies Mairéad Farrell, O'Reilly and Ó Broin. Today's Revised Estimates are unlike any others that have been presented before this Dáil in modern times. When the income supports were put forward by the caretaker Government, they differed from the ones we suggested to the Minister. Despite the fact that we believe there were certain flaws in the income supports, we supported them because it was the right thing to do at that time. Similarly, let me be very clear that we will oppose any cuts to those income supports at this point in time, because that is the wrong thing to do. We have made it clear that the Minister needs to provide certainty and clarity to the more than 1 million workers who are relying on those income supports. He needs to let them know that the supports will be there for them for the remainder of the year at the current rates.

Despite the huge goodwill and generosity there has been from members of the Opposition to the caretaker Government to allow for emergency legislation and these types of supports to come in, the reality is that the supports under the wage subsidy scheme and the pandemic unemployment payment scheme can be ended without any reference to the Dáil and without any legislation. They can be tapered off without having to come before the House ever again. It now rests within the Minister's authority and that of another Minister, who was not elected, to end those payments, continue them or taper them off. For the half a million people who are relying on the pandemic employment payment, it is only ten days before they are supposed to come to an end. There is no certainty as to how long they will be extended for, at what rate they might be extended and all of the rest.

Where we do have a responsibility in this House is in relation to the Estimates, because that is where the House can decide how much money Departments and Ministers may allocate to certain types of schemes. Unfortunately, despite the fact that some of those schemes are coming to an end within ten days, the Government has refused to bring any clarity to the issue as we discuss these Estimates. That is simply not acceptable.

Instead members of the Government, including at the highest level of the Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, have decided to involve themselves in an orchestrated campaign to punch down on low-income workers and to set the scene for a tapering off or a discontinuance at some point in time of supports that are badly needed by people to pay their bills or their rent, to ensure they do not fall into mortgage arrears or to ensure they can care for themselves and their families. Indeed, the Government has been supported in that by Members of the Opposition in Fianna Fáil saying that people are much better off. God help us when politicians earning €96,000 per year can talk about people being so well off on €350 per week. Some Deputies in the House need a reality check, as do some of the captains of industry telling us that people who are asked to survive on €350 per week have somehow won the lotto. As the ESRI has made clear, the reality is that these payments play a vital role not only in supporting individuals but also in the recovery of our economy.

Will the Minister give a guarantee, especially to the nearly 250,000 people we see from the Estimates who lost their jobs during this pandemic and who are likely to be still unemployed at Christmas, that the €350 pandemic unemployment payment will continue until the end of the year for those individuals who have seen an income drop? That is the certainty people need. In terms of the temporary wage subsidy scheme, when does the Minister envisage making a decision to extend it? It must be extended.

The Minister referred to the discussion last week in the Dáil about those on maternity leave and said that he and the Revenue Commissioners have been working on it for two weeks. I welcome that and I welcome the Minister's commitment to bring something forward to the Cabinet. However, I remind the Minister and the House that it is more than a month since we brought it to the Minister's attention that he could deal with this anomaly without legislative change. The reason I and Deputy McDonald wrote to the Taoiseach and the Minister at that time was that the Minister was using the excuse that it required legislative change. Indeed, Fianna Fáil was calling for legislation to be introduced. That was not required and it should not have taken this amount of time, but I welcome the fact that a proposal will be brought to the Cabinet. Hopefully, that will deal with the anomaly.

This is an opportunity to both support individuals and to re-imagine the type of supports we need. The pandemic made it blatantly clear that the levels of support simply did not exist. It also raises questions for those who are coming to retirement age. They have a big concern. The number of people who lost their jobs has been acute in the age groups of between 18 and 25 years and those aged from 60 to 66 years. The Minister's party, along with Fianna Fáil, is planning to push the retirement age up to 67 years. Can the Minister give those workers who have lost their jobs a commitment that they will not be forced to rely on social welfare payments until the age of 67 years and that this legislative change will be reversed?

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