Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

I will raise two matters with the Taoiseach.

4 o’clock

The first pertains to the redundancy law which was extended today. With this law the Government has effectively allowed companies to make workers redundant while refusing to allow workers who have been laid off to invoke redundancy to get the payments to which they are entitled. Instead these workers are being left in limbo. They cannot get their redundancy payments from the company, but they are told by the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection to look for a new job or be cut off from the Covid-19 pandemic unemployment payment. Will the Minister intervene to ensure workers get their entitlements without any further delay?

The second issue I want to raise is the mistreatment of workers by Aer Lingus. The Taoiseach might be aware that Aer Lingus is currently paying its workers only 30% of their basic wages. These experienced workers with families to feed and rents to pay are expected to live on less than the dole. Some workers have been left with as little as €150 a week to live on while the company is bailed out by the public purse. In recent weeks I have been contacted by several of those workers. They have spoken about the impossible situation they are in and their worries about how they will survive on these poverty wages. The company has now told these workers not to reach out to Deputies, speak out on social media or talk about the situation they are facing. The rules of the temporary Covid-19 wage subsidy scheme must be changed to ensure all companies in receipt of State support pay their workers decent wages.

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