Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Apparently that is okay but the Government is going to punish poor people, those who have lost their job through no fault of their own, for following the advice that is on the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade website. That is what is going on. It is shocking, as are the double standards behind it. If the Taoiseach were to decide that he fancied going to Italy, Hungary or Cyprus, would he have his salary, which is public money, docked? He would not. The Government is singling out people on social welfare payments. I got a message today from a carer who was stopped. This was a carer taking a bit of respite. This is sickening stuff. I suppose I should expect it from Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil but for the Green Party to do this is utterly nauseating. I would bet that if the Minister were to look at the list of 102 people, she would find certain common characteristics, namely, they would have foreign-sounding names or look a bit foreign, even though they are residents and citizens of this country. That is what is really going on.

The other thing that is really going on in this Bill is an attempt to whip people who lost their jobs through no fault of their own as a result of public health advice into low-paid employment in other jobs. That is what the Government is doing. It is giving itself the legal right to put pressure on people who work in the arts, in live entertainment and music to go to work in a McDonald's. It is doing so to improve the employment figures and because deep in the soul of Fine Gael there is a hatred of people who, through no fault of their own in most cases, must depend on social welfare. It is a deep prejudice that is stamped into the DNA of Fine Gael and it is nauseating.

It would seem there was no legal basis for any of this until now and the Government is desperately trying to rectify the situation by retrospectively bringing in this legislation to legitimise the measures. I would love it if the Minister would answer a direct question. Have recipients of the pandemic unemployment payment and other social welfare payments who are complying with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade travel advice and going to one of the 13 countries had their payments cut? I repeat that I am not suggesting people should go to those countries. I am pointing out that the confusion about travel starts with the Government's advice. It is the Government that is saying it is okay to go to certain countries in a departure from NPHET advice. It is members of the Government who should have their payments docked for breaching health advice because NPHET and the expert advisory group have made it clear there should not be non-essential travel. Ministers should have their pay docked for refusing to comply with that advice and endangering the public health effort.

Crucially, and this is where it really is bad, all of the public health measures and the enthusiastic commitment of people to measures that meant they had to suffer significant hardship were dependent on the principle that we are all in it together. That is why there was such compliance, because the measures applied to everybody. Rich or poor, no matter what a person's station in life, we were supposed to be all in it together and we were all going to suffer the same hardships. People believed this but it seems they were fools to believe it. At the first opportunity, the Government reverted to type and started the discrimination, inequality and bias against the least well-off, the vulnerable and those who were unlucky enough to lose jobs and still not be able to get back to work because of the public health measures the Government imposed. This is the truth of what is going on. Really, I am at a loss for words as to what the Government is saying.

I would love if the Minister got up and said the advice of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is that people on the payments are allowed to go to one of the 15 countries on the list. I reiterate that I do not think anybody should be allowed to go but it should apply to everybody. I bet people on payments are not allowed and they are losing their payments. This was clear when the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade got up today and said the Government is saying nobody should go but the very same Minister states on the Department's website that it is okay to go to 15 countries. However, the Government will only impose penalties on certain categories of people, who tend to be the less well-off, the vulnerable and those who have lost employment.

We will try to amend the legislation. I do have to say I am disappointed our other amendment was not taken, seeing as we facilitated a rushed Bill and guillotines but nonetheless we have tabled an amendment to take out this attempt to change the goalposts behind the pandemic unemployment payment and smash up, which is what the Government is doing, the principle of solidarity that underlay the public health measures. It would be better if the Government accepted this but we will put it to a vote later.

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