Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

A number of issues have been raised. First, the payment for the self-employed is relative to what they put in their tax returns in 2018. I stated earlier that if they have updated figures for 2019, they should please lodge them with Revenue and we are happy to look at them and, if we can, we will increase their payments.

To be very clear, we are not trying to harass anybody. One can leave in exceptional circumstances but if one remains in this country, one will continue to receive one's payment. That is it. I made that very clear earlier.

In March and April when the entire economy was shut down due to Covid-19, we were not going to ask people to look for a job when everything was closed. That is common sense. We are not in that space any more. The economy is reopening. Businesses are returning and we hope that by 10 August, pubs and other businesses will open again.

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