Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I too am concerned about the way the Minister is talking about supporting jobs and industry. The music and entertainment industry, the buses, taxis, hackneys, limousines, those aged over 66, the dance teachers and travel agents have all been left behind completely. This is doing nothing for them. The Government gave stimulus money to the banks, which will not loan the money out.

Small business owners and entrepreneurs who have a part-time job to support their enterprise have been left behind. They are unable to claim the restart grant or indeed the enterprise support grant, because they be working for a few hours a week. That is totally unfair. Those who operate a business from their home or online, or a sport or even a dance venture, for example, could not receive the restart grant due to having a second income by way of a part-time retail job, which they had to put food on the table. That continued during the pandemic. They were unable to avail of the Covid-19 pandemic unemployment payment. The kind of situation that people have found themselves in is shocking. Half of their income was being diminished as a result of the pandemic but they could get no supports. They were restricted in every way. The enterprise support grant excludes those same people who could not avail of the pandemic payment. There are significant anomalies and discrimination there.

I pay tribute to those in the rates and finance section of Tipperary County Council, who have rolled out a restart grant to 1,700 businesses and 800 restart plus grants, with 700 more still in the queue. The staff have been extremely helpful to my office, to all public representatives and to all these business people. It is a welcome source of income for those who can receive it but I am concerned about those who have not been able to receive it. Student nurses find themselves in another difficult situation. They had to give up their part-time jobs because they cannot be co-located, they are helping out in hospitals and elsewhere with the pandemic, and now that they are going back to college, to their education, they have no income because their jobs are gone. They have been left behind. I appeal to the Minister to do something for these groups of people. The over-66s have been forgotten completely.

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