Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The facts are these: we are now living with an ongoing crisis, there are tens of thousands of people who have not worked since March and there are thousands across the city and county of Dublin who got laid off on Friday. The very idea of reducing the payment for these workers at a time when interventions for public health are being made is absolutely extraordinary. The payment of €350 is not a fortune. There is nobody sitting in this Chamber who is on €350 per week. I dare say that the ten special advisers for the Taoiseach's junior Ministers will be paid an awful lot more than €350 per week. Therefore, I am asking him to play his part as Head of Government and for the State to lead from the front. I want him to revisit the decision to cut the pandemic unemployment payment. I want him to reinstate it to its original rate in recognition of the fact that people may well be in and out of employment for quite an extended period.

The Taoiseach claimed he cannot reinstate the ban on evictions because of some constitutional complication.

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