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

Let us be clear. With the cuts in the PUP, the retrograde decision to allow the banks end the waiver on mortgage repayments and so on, the financial pressure on the 35,000 people working in this sector will become unbearable. They then have the ongoing costs of repayments, insurance and warehousing; we can go through the list of costs. There will not be a sector unless there is a dramatic improvement in supports. Many of these people will not be able to pay their bills so the PUP issue is critical.

That has to be addressed. Equally, the ongoing costs must be covered and grants must be made available to sustain this industry through what is a very uncertain and indefinite period of shutdown, or near shutdown. It is a life-and-death matter for the 35,000 people affected and many more who are affected indirectly.

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