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

Those in receipt of the pandemic unemployment payment will be in a better position, relatively speaking. Obviously losing a job puts people in a very difficult position. We did not want to increase the number of people losing their jobs this week. That is one of the factors that fed into the Government's decision yesterday not to move to level 5. Quite a number of businesses may not be closed on a temporary basis, but may close long-term resulting in longer-term sustained unemployment.

Prior to the pandemic, there were roughly 213,000 people in receipt of jobseeker's allowance of €203 per week. Many people employed before the pandemic never got the pandemic unemployment payment. We have to be fair to those people, as well as those in receipt of carer's allowance and other social protection payments who are in receipt of basic social protection payments.

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