Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change) | Oireachtas source

I thank Solidarity-People Before Profit for bringing this Private Members' motion to the Dáil.

It is very apt as Dublin and Donegal were already at level 3 and overnight the whole of the country went to that level. This will have a major impact on jobs, particularly in the retail and pub sectors, as well as restaurants.

As I stated yesterday in a question to the Taoiseach, the Restaurants Association of Ireland is warning that 180,000 jobs will be at risk and the vintners' group has warned that approximately 50,000 jobs are at risk. This will have a major impact on those workers, who have some sort of outgoings putting a roof over their heads either in the form of a mortgage or rent. A person entitled to €203, €250 or €300 per week would not have enough money to keep that roof over his or her head; there is no correlation there whatever.

The number of workers in receipt of the pandemic unemployment payment since Dublin and Donegal moved to level 3 is phenomenal. There has been talk of the cash being spent but the Government is saying to these people that they can live on €300 even if they had been earning €500 but still just had enough to get by, or that people can live on €250 if they had been earning €299. The Government Members are meanwhile blatantly accepting a €2,000 increase, with the salary in their pockets going from €96,000 to €98,000. They are putting €40 per week into their pockets while saying what they have said to these workers. These people get up early in the morning, to use the phrase we have heard over the past number of years, and work late at night. The Government is telling them they can afford to live on €300, €250 or €203. It is immoral and Government Deputies should hang their heads in shame if they insist on keeping these rates.

Yesterday, I told the Taoiseach that the ban on evictions should be reintroduced and we should stop increases in rents. It has been pointed out already that there is phenomenal wealth in this country. This Government has refused to tax this wealth, including assets and investments, and as has been pointed out here already, a minimum 1% tax on that wealth could pay for what we are seeking. Even if it did not, it would be morally correct for the Government to increase the payments to €350 again.

The Minister of State is a member of the Green Party, which should really consider what it is doing by supporting the Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil Government, members of which are clearly living in a bubble, complete with a salary for each Deputy of €98,000 per annum, while telling other workers to live on peanuts.

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