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

The cut to the pandemic unemployment payment is happening concurrently with the increase in and stepping up of restrictions. This is a time when people need support from the State to deal the coronavirus rather than punishment. How on earth can the Taoiseach justify slashing the supports to workers who have lost their jobs due to Covid when we have a second wave of the coronavirus and a second wave of restrictions which means more workers are going to lose their jobs? When this was done before the Government accepted that people should not be driven into poverty or homelessness for following public health guidelines. That is why we had the €350 per week payment and the ban on evictions. Now however, precisely when people will need these protections the most, the Government has removed the evictions ban and today it is cutting the Covid payment. I believe the Taoiseach is paid €550 per day from the public purse, yet he is slashing the income of people who are already struggling to get by to €203 per week in some cases. It would take them 1,000 weeks to receive what the Taoiseach makes in a year, yet they are the ones who are being asked to take a cut.

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