Dáil debates

Wednesday, 4 November 2020

Finance Bill 2020: Second Stage

 

4:45 pm

Photo of Mick BarryMick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I refer to the proposal in the Bill to tax people who have received the pandemic unemployment payment, PUP. The maximum rate for the PUP was €350 per week. Many people who were on that rate had already taken a big hit to their income. People who were on €600, €700 or €800 per week saw their wages halved. The proposal is to tax them on that. That is wrong. It is particularly wrong when it comes as part of a Finance Bill and budget which is handing out billions in corporate welfare. One law for the rich, one law for the rest. The Minister may argue that it is €524, that people will not have to start to pay until 2022 and they can stretch it out for four years, but that is not the point. The point is that it is wrong in principle and it should be withdrawn from the Bill.

I wish to raise a point about Debenhams, as I often do. There is €10 million at stake to settle this dispute. The workers were at the WRC last Friday. They were informed by the liquidator, KPMG, that it may walk from the process by 23 December if it has not been resolved before then. That puts a question mark over a just settlement for the workers, as well as the €20 million in revenue that is due to the State from the liquidation. The money is owed to the Revenue Commissioners, local councils for rates and so on. All of this points to the urgent need for the Government to intervene directly and to put money on the table. That would resolve the dispute, allow stock to be moved out of the stores and ensure workers get their payment. It would free up the situation and ensure the State gets at least some moneys from the liquidation. The Government must intervene and put money on the table in respect of that dispute.

While I am on the issue of liquidations and redundancies, it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that next year will be a big year for redundancies, unfortunately. What the State says in that regard has big implications for workers and the public finances. Mr. Kevin Duffy and Ms Nessa Cahill appeared before the Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment this morning. I understand there was a meeting of what is described as a stakeholders' forum this afternoon to discuss the programme for Government commitment to improve workers' rights in a liquidation situation and to discuss the Duffy Cahill proposals. I know that is not the direct responsibility of the Minister of State, Deputy Fleming, who is present, but the question of redundancies and what the State pays very much are his responsibility. I would like the members of that stakeholders' forum to be identified on the record of the Dáil. The press statement referred to it being made up of social partners. I wish to know which groups are involved in it. Is it made up of IBEC, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, the Irish Small and Medium Employers association or other groups? Does the forum have terms of reference? If so, where are they published? If not, why not? Does it have a deadline for completing its work, either by producing a report or making recommendations? What is that deadline? When will it meet again? There is not enough information around the establishment of the forum. The Minister of State, Deputy Fleming, may not be able to reply to those questions, but he could raise them with his line Minister. I am putting the issue out there.

On the issue of the temporary wage subsidy scheme, TWSS, and the employee wage subsidy scheme, EWSS, 66,500 companies benefited from the former scheme, according to Revenue information published last weekend.

By no means were these overwhelmingly small companies or medium-sized businesses but included some of the biggest businesses in the country, such as Brown Thomas, JD Wetherspoon, Zara and Volkswagen with 85% of the wage bill paid.

One of the companies that got paid under the scheme was Penneys, a company that is set to make £350 million profit in 2020 between Ireland, Britain and a few other international outlets it has. Penneys wants to reduce the hours of the workers in shops at the moment. Workers who are on 11-hour contracts but would have been getting 30 or 40 hours of work are back down to 11 hours or close to it. Workers are having their income slashed while the company is benefiting significantly from the scheme. That needs to be looked at more carefully.

Aer Lingus workers have still not been able to get their social welfare arrears for the period from March to September. In some areas the Intreo offices are accepting the claims, but in most areas they are being refused. The company has played havoc on this in an attempt to drive people out without having to pay redundancy or to enforce changes to work practices, but the State is complicit by not giving a direction to Intreo as it should. Aer Lingus management should be called before an Oireachtas committee to answer for what is going on there which is scandalous.

I wanted to make some points about the capitalist system, but I have only nine seconds left. No doubt I will make them some other day.

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