Dáil debates

Thursday, 15 October 2020

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions

Covid-19 Pandemic Supports

10:50 am

Photo of Mattie McGrathMattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the initiatives in the budget but they will not be enough for certain cohorts of people, particularly the self-employed. I accept that everybody is affected and we are all in favour of trying to avoid the risks to public health. As the Tánaiste noted on "Claire Byrne Live", however, we have to balance that with everything else, and we have not been doing so. The Minister of State referred to the €480 that self-employed people can earn. I welcome that, not because it is a support but because they want to keep their businesses. If customers ring them, they want to be allowed to help them out because they do not want some large company taking their work from them. They value the service of their customers and their customers value the businesses; it is a quid pro quo.

Self-employed people over the age of 66 have been totally excluded, such as dance teachers, musicians, artists, lorry drivers and many others. If they do not pay rates, they will not be able to avail of the schemes because they park beside houses, even though they have so many expenses. They may have built up a wide network of customers and they want to be able to maintain that. I welcome the €480 a month for those reasons, rather than for the reasons the Minister of State outlined. It just goes to show that the researchers and the people in the Department do not get it or understand what it is like to be self-employed. There are not enough of them in the Chamber talking to the Minister, although there are enough of them in the party of the Minister and the Minister of State.

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