Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In responding to the issues raised in respect of this section, it is important to put these matters in context during this debate. Many issues have been raised with regard to the temporary wage subsidy scheme and the role of the pandemic unemployment payment. As we begin this debate about the temporary wage subsidy scheme, we should anchor any discussion about the perceived limitations of the scheme in the fact that, as of today, 410,000 of our citizens are benefiting from it. They depend on the scheme for either their income or their job.

I have heard much commentary from a number of Deputies this afternoon regarding my intentions or the intentions of the previous Government and I will deal with these remarks as I work through. I see that my colleague, Deputy Ring, who was a member of that Government, has joined us for this debate. I will not accept any attempt from any Deputy, including Deputy Mattie McGrath or Deputy Boyd Barrett, in whose contribution I was disappointed, to suggest that our intentions in respect of this scheme were anything less than what they were. Our intentions were to save jobs and incomes on a weekend when hundreds of thousands of our citizens were facing great economic strain.

Hundreds of thousands of our citizens did not know if they were going to have a job and, that being the case, how they would access a social welfare payment. As the Government, we had to put together a scheme at speed and on a great scale to deal with an issue that was without precedent. I remember the Cabinet meetings that led to this scheme being agreed. I remember the days that led up to it and the feverish work that went on over days and nights to put the scheme together. I also remember the impact the scheme had on people's lives. I see that each day in my engagement with constituents and in the letters, phone calls and notes I get. I see what it has done and the effect it has had. Few of the economic interventions various Governments have made were put together with this speed, had the impact this has had, or played a role in saving jobs and incomes at a time when our country and people needed guidance and a safety net.

I listened to Deputy Harkin's contribution on Second Stage. It was a very nuanced contribution about the merits of this Bill, which she was good enough to acknowledge, and the demerits she genuinely sees in areas on which she disagrees with me. She used the image of throwing an anchor.

When the previous Government was looking to throw an anchor into the seas we found ourselves in at that time, the conditions were stormy, nobody had a compass and the horizons were unclear.

We did all that could be done in putting this scheme together. I feel the need to put this on the record of the House because of some of the contributions I heard this afternoon and the comments that were made about my intentions in this finance Bill, which I will deal with individually. I will give no quarter with regard to some of the accusations that have been this afternoon. I will dealing with issues regarding the operation of the Bill, some of which are important and genuine and may require action and further thought in the coming weeks and months in the run-up to the next finance Bill.

In saying that, I will go back to where I began. In fairness to Deputy Pearse Doherty, he acknowledged, as I have done, that this plan has worked. The wage subsidy scheme has worked. The work we did to amend the scheme, with the support of some but not all Deputies, and to taper incomes has worked. The way we have run our affairs up to this point, now supported by action from the European Union and European Central Bank, has got us to the point that we are borrowing €30 billion on behalf of Irish citizens in a year in which we will probably collect between €49 billion and €51 billion. We will borrow this money at interest rates which would have been unimaginable a decade ago. That is the backdrop, the big picture, in terms of the issues that have been raised here with me.

I will deal with each of the points that were raised. I do not know if it is because the day is long or this has been a demanding term for Deputy Boyd Barrett, as it has been for others, but I take issue with him coming in here and accusing me of looking to betray workers in this country. To do so after the work this Government and the previous one have done to try to get people back to work and, at a time of such strain, to bring in a scheme such as the wage subsidy scheme is beneath the normal kind of argument he makes and ill serves the points he makes. I take issue with the Deputy standing here and accusing me, as he did, of looking to betray anybody and I assure him that I have every bit as clear an understanding as he does of the reality facing citizens because of Covid. That accusation does not serve the argument he makes and does not reflect well on the beliefs he genuinely holds.

I will address substantively the issues he raised. This is the very reason the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, only a week ago indicated that funding for the Arts Council will exceed €100 million. It is the reason she launched a fund to look at how we can share the risk of new concerts and artistic activity, which is not happening for the reasons Deputy Boyd Barrett just outlined. It is the reason the same Minister in recent days launched a number of plans, none of which the Deputy acknowledged although I am sure he knows about them given his concern for this issue, that are focused precisely on trying to deal with the very issues he raised. That is why money was made available for them in the July jobs plan of last week. It is also why, in the plan launched by the Government the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, put together additional funding purely focused on the sector the Deputy highlighted.

In regard to the point Deputy Boyd Barrett made about taxi drivers, I can see the strain many taxi drivers are under at the moment. When I meet taxi drivers in my constituency of Dublin Central I see the difficulty they face in getting back to work. Driving a taxi is a demanding job at the best of times and one on which those of us who live in the cities depend to facilitate our social, personal and work life. I see the strain taxi drivers face. That is the reason the pandemic unemployment payment was brought in for those citizens and for others. Despite the way the Deputy articulated the argument, I take the point he raises seriously. What I will do on foot of this debate is engage with the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and the National Transport Authority to see what can be done to deal with some of the issues the Deputy raised. I will be happy to revert to him when I have done that.

As for Deputy Mattie McGrath, his contribution was nasty, divisive and small-minded. No cause would be well served by him raising it in the way he did in this case. Deputy Nash's contribution was at least broad and nuanced enough to reflect on the issues. While he differs with me on the kinds of measures I have introduced, he is able to also acknowledge what has been done in the July jobs plan and the effect it has had. I will give no quarter to the kind of language and tone that is used in this House by Deputy Mattie McGrath. I will give no quarter to tolerating the meanness of the arguments he puts forward which demean the serious issues he raises-----

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