Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There is no debacle with regard to the travel advisory, as the Deputy suggested. In sharp contrast to the decisions taken in Northern Ireland by the Deputy's party, the decisions taken in the Republic of Ireland have resulted in some of the most restrictive travel guidance globally. The results of this are there for all to see.

It must be acknowledged by all that the pandemic unemployment payment was an unprecedented and fair response to the Covid-19 emergency. At the height of the emergency, in May, as many as 600,000 people were in receipt of that payment. As the economy has begun to reopen, people have returned to employment and the number claiming the payment has fallen to 287,000. By any yardstick, it was a massive national response.

Deputy McDonald endeavoured to paint the picture that somebody is out to get somebody or that the State has adopted a punitive approach. That is not the position of the Government. It has been anxious to help people who were made unemployed as a result of Covid-19, hence the unprecedented numbers who received this very special payment which the Government has decided to continue until the end of March, albeit at different levels.

The Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection has carried out compliance inspections at ports and airports since 2012, as the Deputy is well aware. These continue. The primary purpose of these checks has always been to ensure that social welfare payments are only made to people who reside in the State and who comply with the regulations. Since March of this year, more than 2,000 pandemic unemployment payment claims have been closed as a result of checks carried out at Dublin Airport. The Department has informed me that the vast majority of these cases related to individuals leaving the country permanently rather than holidaymakers. These people no longer live here and are not entitled to this payment so it has been stopped. Most people would say that this must be checked on an ongoing basis. It is also important that this type of thing be dealt with in respect of schemes more widely. The Department is very clear on that.

In the context of the overall picture, we are talking about a handful of cases in which claimants have had their payment suspended because of the changes the Department made in the context of the Government's travel advice. The Government has consistently advised that the safest thing is not to travel. It has not been encouraging or incentivising travel and the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection was anxious to ensure the holiday arrangements for recipients of social welfare payments were in accord and alignment with the Government's travel advice.

We are talking about a very small number of the 287,000 who continue to receive the payment.

See this speech in context