Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I hope the Minister will respond on the section. Section 1 deals with definitions. The problem with one definition is that it refers to employers only in terms of the wage subsidy scheme, WSS. As I pointed out on Second Stage, many people need an income subsidy but they are not employers or they are their own employer, that is, they are self-employed or lone traders. This group, to put it bluntly, has been left hung out to dry in the July stimulus. They should get the benefit of an income subsidy.

I would like the Minister and Government to explain why this is happening. Some sectors have been decimated by public health measures that have protected us all, and people's willingness to adhere to them. Why are employees now being betrayed - there is no other way to describe it - by having their PUP payments cut without being offered an alternative support until their sector recovers? The Government owes these people an explanation. They are very angry.

I spoke to Mary Coughlan on the telephone. She was quite happy for me to cite her as an example. Her case is typical of many self-employed artists. They have had their PUP payments cut from €350 to €203. She pointed out that pre-Covid she earned €20,000 a year, which is a modest income. As a result of Covid and the public health measures, she has had 35 concerts cancelled in Britain, Norway, Finland and elsewhere. She has no idea when there will be any substantial recovery in the gigs available to her. This is all because of public health measures. We need to protect our society, but her livelihood is gone.

Her story is repeated by dozens of people working in the sector. Lighting designers and self-employed musicians were earning €25,000 or €30,000 a year. Their payments have been cut to €203 despite the fact that they were earning in excess of €200 a week because of the way income for the self-employed is reckoned by Revenue. I could go through a long list of those affected, but I do not have time to mention them all.

Many musicians, including Mary, pointed out to me that they regularly do gigs for Pieta House, women's refuges and support various good causes for free on national television.

Then, when a moment comes for a bit of reciprocal solidarity from the Government, the artists, musicians and the crew standing beside them are cut loose. I really want the Minister to understand that the mental health trauma a lot of these people are going through is severe. The musicians' association that has been set up with 4,000 members is saying a large number of musicians and crew are suffering from serious stress, anxiety and mental health issues because their incomes have been slaughtered but they have no way to get back to full earning capacity.

They have appealed, as have I on their behalf for weeks now, for an income subsidy the same as the Minister is giving to employers. They are not asking for handouts but for the same income subsidy scheme, or similar, to the ones the Minister is providing for employers. If they lost 30% of their turnover, he is paying the wages of their employees. Why can he not do that for the musicians, crew, artists and actors? It is wrong. Why can he not do it for taxi drivers who are in the same boat? They are having their payments cut again. I can read out the names. They have had them cut, and more will be cut as a result of what the Minister did yesterday. They are now being whipped back to work but there is no work for them. They are asking for an income subsidy the same as the Minister was giving to thousands of, often profitable, companies. Will he please do that? It is relevant to this section, because there is no reference to this group in the definitions section but there should be, because that is what "We are all in it together" means. Or is it that we are all in it together but some people are more all in together than other people, to paraphrase George Orwell. It is rotten and it is a breach of the trust and solidarity that the Minister preached and people bought into over the past number of months because these people have served our society and now, they are being cut loose and betrayed. I appeal to him to please respond and tell us what he will do to help these people.

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