Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want to be clear that the reason these measures had to be put in place was the systemic underfunding and understaffing in our health service. People had to stop moving to give our health service a chance to recover from the impact of the systematic and systemic underfunding and under-resourcing. We have the lowest number of consultants per head of population. We also have very low levels of nurses and very high levels of bed occupancy, with very long waiting lists. It was important that people stop to allow time for the health service to prepare.

I want to address briefly the issue of those who might be better off on these payments than they would have been in work. I was recently contacted by a young woman who lives in north County Dublin. When she is working, she earns €349.40 each week. She is a lone parent. She wants to be able to go back to work when it is safe to do so. She is worried about those who have been accusing people like her of gaming the system. She simply cannot go to work without appropriate childcare. She is concerned that there is a view that she and people like her are living it up on €350 a week, or that she might go wild with the extra 60 cent a week that she is getting now. She did not ask to be laid off and she will be back in work as soon as she possibly can be. The Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection addressed this issue previously. Does the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, agree with the statement made by the Taoiseach on 2 April when he said "I have heard stories of people who have asked their employers to lay them off because they would be better off on the €350 payment than maybe working 20 hours a week for €11 [an hour] .... do the maths"? Does the Minister know these people? Has he advised the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection? Does he believe this story? I personally do not. It is not my experience at all.

Dublin Airport is responsible for approximately 97,400 jobs. Those are jobs supported by or facilitated by the airport, according to the Dublin Airport economic impact study. Has the Minister given any thought to a particular sectoral recovery package that will specifically target the airport? It is extremely important, not just to the people who live in north County Dublin but also to the people in the broader Leinster area who are dependent on the jobs at the airport. We do not know what the future will be for aviation but these people absolutely need some form of income continuance. They need to know, as the tourism sector gets back up and running, that they will be part of it. In that regard, I request that the Minister gives some thought to sectoral recovery packages.

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