Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is the Taoiseach who has broken the consensus and the notion that we are all in this together by sending inspectors to airports seeking out those on Covid payments. That is what has happened. I put it to the Taoiseach that in so doing, the Government acted outside the law. I would like him to state to the Dáil the legal basis upon which individuals were approached to establish their social welfare status. Did the Department have reasonable grounds to do so, or did inspectors simply make an assessment based on the look of someone? Was everybody asked and checked? The Taoiseach concedes that travel is at a record low and that there is no widespread clamour among those on Covid payments to travel overseas; far from it. Why then has the Government targeted them in this way? I too wish that nobody would take a trip abroad. That is my position and I think it is the correct position. However, the Government's advice is confusing to the extent that those who may have paid for their holidays 12 months ago are not in a position to get a refund. Now they face the prospect of losing their Covid payment if they travel, which is their sole source of income.

I put it to the Taoiseach again that if there are penalties for travelling abroad, they should be universal. If the Government chooses, as it has chosen, to target those on Covid-19 payments, that is discriminatory and unfair and should not happen. I want the Taoiseach to state what form this review will take. Is it a special review?

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