Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Minister on her appointment to a Ministry I have no doubt she will thrive in. I am astonished, however, that the rural affairs brief has got thrown in under the Department of Social Protection. This move seriously demotes rural affairs and was a very poor sign from Fianna Fáil of its intentions for rural Ireland, once again demoting the Ministry for rural affairs.

The PUP was introduced by the Government on 13 March 2020. I was asked to help with more than 100 applications, which we had to send in paper form. They got no reply, which meant we had to do them all over again. Was there any report on what happened to the paper applications? It was too much of a coincidence that all those we sent in never got responses. I give credit to the staff of the Department for handling tens of thousands of applications in such an efficient manner. I can only imagine the pressure they were under.

One serious problem arose for young people on the Covid-19 payment or the wage subsidy scheme. These young people were on the verge of being approved for mortgages when the banks refused to approve their applications as they were on the Covid-19 payment or the wage subsidy scheme. This has caused heartache for so many young people through no fault of their own. I would appreciate it if the Minister stepped in and forced these unscrupulous banks to honour the mortgage agreements agreed prior to Covid-19.

Then there are the over-66s. I ask the Minister to reconsider doing something for the elderly people of our country who were still working when Covid hit. They were still getting pensions. They were working, and surely some type of payment should have been made available to them. They too have mortgages and many bills to pay, and then Covid hit. The very least the State could have done for these people was to bring their pensions up to the Covid payment of €350. They get up early in the morning. They have worked hard all their lives and have got nothing in return. They continue to be punished after last week's stimulus package, whereby those who can go on holiday this year can get €125 back in some type of tax credit. For those over 66 on a pension, this will not work and they will get nothing once again. What did people over 66 do to deserve this, to be treated so badly by this Government and the previous Government? It is shocking, and they are angry and will not forget for a long time to come what the Government has done to them.

Then there are the seasonal workers, who are entitled to nothing. I spoke to a tour guide operator on the phone just before I came here. She cannot claim any Covid-related support. She was told she is entitled to nothing. This is shocking as this woman had a full schedule of work ahead of her starting, like other years, in the middle of March. People like her have worked tirelessly down through the years and would continue to do so only for the Government's shutdown of the country. What can these people do? I asked this same question of the Aer Lingus officials this morning at the Covid-19 committee meeting. Their workers' original fortnightly pay was reduced on 30 March to 50%. As of July, they are entitled to 30% pay. This means that although they are working, they are not getting 30% pay. Aer Lingus employees were misinformed and told that the company would give them the 30% and that the Government would give them a Covid-19 top-up of €700 fortnightly. They, therefore, assumed they would get more than €350 per week. This is not the case. It looks like in their payslips all they will get is a Covid-lite payment. Some crew have filled out UP1 and UP14 social welfare forms to claim reduced work benefits. They were told by the Citizens Information Board and the Department that they were entitled to claim. However, HR in Aer Lingus is refusing to sign the basic Xs and Os of the social protection forms for them. These are Aer Lingus workers. They are not allowed to self-declare and, therefore, the company refuses to sign. They do not get any added benefit from social welfare claims. These are Xs and Os, and it should be no problem for any employer to fill the employer's duty. I hope the Minister is aware of this situation with Aer Lingus and will rectify it for the employees.

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