Dáil debates

Wednesday, 30 September 2020

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate

Covid-19 Pandemic Supports

2:25 pm

Photo of Ruairi Ó MurchúRuairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am not sure that we got an answer. The only answer that I can take from the reply is that banks will be offering one-to-one solutions. We will now be relying on the innate goodness of banks, which has not been evident in this State to date. I want to know what the Government is actually going to do. This issue will not end today - we will have to revisit it in many forms.

We were told during the period of austerity that certain institutions and banks were too big to fail. While I welcome the fact that fewer people are looking for breaks, approximately 39,000 people have applied for a second break according to the Government's figures. We need to ensure that as many people as possible are covered. Unlike the institutions, the people are far too big to fail.

What we are seeing is in keeping with what the Government is doing with the pandemic unemployment payment, PUP. We must keep as many people safe during the pandemic as possible and give supports to people and businesses, but we are failing miserably.

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