Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the Taoiseach. That is all the more reason such an initiative would be so important. In one school in my area, 400 pupils are at home today. It can have a big impact. If we are to get the numbers down, people need to feel a degree of certainty about how they will survive it if they are to go two weeks without any income, for example.

Earlier the Taoiseach said the amount of money is unprecedented, but, of course, Covid is unprecedented. Certain sectors have not had a chance, and probably will not have a chance, to get back to work, including people working in the arts, travel and tourism, and the hospitality sector, which has been badly impacted. I saw that in my area where we recently had a high level of restrictions. Those areas need support for longer and, as the ones most impacted by the most recent cuts in the PUP, they need to be looked at from that point of view.

The Taoiseach is getting the same kinds of contacts as I am with people crying on the phone, wondering how they will survive. We are all getting that. There was no lead-in time for this. There is no reserve for people. They are panicking about how they will survive. I ask the Taoiseach to look at those sectors from the point of view of the pandemic payments.

See this speech in context