Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to get an opportunity to speak. I congratulate the Minister on her appointment and wish her all the very best for the duration of this Dáil.

I want to ensure that seasonal workers who were not working the week of 6 March will be made eligible for the coronavirus payment now. I welcome the extension of the payment for a category of people which in Kerry includes hotel workers and bus drivers. There are many of them and they have no work. Because they were not working the week of 6 March, they have been left behind. That is very unfair, and I ask the Minister to address it.

Like others, I support the call for the over-66s. Many of them are publicans. They have given good employment over the years, and just because they are over 66 they have been left behind. They have insurance and utility bills and many other outstanding costs. They are trying to keep their premises and make them available like others who are over 66.

The TWSS only applies to people who worked the months of January and February. In the tourism sector, many people do not work during January and February. These people are not eligible for the wage subsidy and will, therefore, be left behind by businesses because when there is no wage subsidy for them, they will not be considered for or asked to work at all. Another point about the wage subsidy, and I wish to make this very clear to the Minister, is that in the case of those who did work in January and February but for fewer hours, perhaps 15 or 20 hours, and who did that work diligently, their employers will be allowed to claim the wage subsidy only for those hours they worked, meaning they will be left behind again because the employees who worked 39 or 40 hours per week are entitled to the full rate of the wage subsidy. Those employees will be considered first, and the ones who have fewer hours will not be considered at all.

Like other speakers, I wish to make a case for entertainers and musicians all around the country who worked hard to ensure people enjoyed their evenings out, whether they were traditional musicians, the ordinary ballad group that played in lounges or pubs or even the Dublin City Ramblers, who played in Kilgarvan year after year. They have been left behind. They have serious costs and they gave great enjoyment and great benefit to all those who listened to them and who look forward to listening to them again. They are not allowed to work now. I appeal to the Minister to end the embargo on those people who played in local pubs and clubs in order that they be allowed to work as soon as possible. They should also get some kind of financial assistance to keep them going in the meantime.

See this speech in context