Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach's decision to press ahead with the cuts to the PUP are a disgraceful and dangerous betrayal of thousands of working people who have lost jobs and incomes because of Government measures. The people who have been hit hardest by the pandemic are now being kicked while they are down. This is grossly unjust and a serious danger to the collective social solidarity that is absolutely critical to defeating Covid-19. If the Government loses the faith of the people and punishes those who have lost their jobs and income as a result of its restrictions, it will lose the dressing room. People will lose faith in the public health effort and it will unravel. It is grossly economically and financially unfair to those who lose their jobs and it threatens the public health effort. Does the Taoiseach not see this? Does he not see that the new restrictions with rising infection rates will mean more people are going to lose their jobs, some for the second time, and others will have no prospect of a return to their jobs? To cut their income is a knife in the back. Does the Taoiseach not see this?

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