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

The Deputy has said he thinks people should not travel at all, and I hear what he is saying. The Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection has made the situation clear in respect of people travelling back to Ireland from countries that are on the green list. They do not necessarily have to restrict their movements when they return to Ireland from a green list country, as per Government travel advice.

I again make the point that the numbers are extremely low. The Government has not set out, in any shape or form, to collectively target the recipients of pandemic unemployment payments. As I have said already and as the Minister said earlier today, the cases involved will undergo a review. This issue can be resolved.

The overall view of the Government is that we have strengthened the legislative basis underpinning the pandemic unemployment payment, we have given added protections to those in receipt of pandemic unemployment payments, namely, that they are deemed to have made contributions which will help them later on, and we have extended the payment to the end of March. By any yardstick, that represents a very substantial intervention by the State in terms of supporting people who are going through a very difficult situation as a result of Covid-19.

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