Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy uses every situation to tell untruths, rather than the truth, about the reality out there.

She is fundamentally wrong about the wage subsidy scheme. That scheme is about employers who employ people. The Deputy knows that there are various formulas designed to facilitate, for example, employers whose turnover has dropped to 70% of the previous year and so on. The Deputy deliberately distorts what has been an effective and unprecedented intervention in the labour market to protect employers, enterprises and workers. As I said, it is expected that 350,000 people will benefit from the scheme. Can the Deputy not acknowledge that a substantial and unprecedented intervention has been made by the State on behalf of taxpayers to support employment? Why does the Deputy always feel the need to distort facts and, if one likes, smear people who are definitely trying to do their best? She does it all the time for political advantage.

We extended the pandemic unemployment payment until the middle of next year and did so quicker than any other European country. We made that decision. The rates have come down but they are closely proximate to what people would have been earning before they were laid off.

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