Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I too make what is a badly needed appeal. I do not know how the Minister does not get this. As Deputy Boyd Barrett has said, surely he knows about this from the taxi drivers, musicians and artists. He might not know from the countryside the plight of self-employed Readymix truck owners, the self-employed drivers of flatbed and tipper trucks. He might not know about the minibus driven by its owner. There is a plethora of groups that do not have a rateable premises and they do not qualify for the scheme as a result.

There is also the case of musicians, sound and light engineers, whose vehicles and equipment could be worth €100,000.

At least that is how much they cost. In many cases they used their homes as collateral to buy their equipment. They did not mind doing that; they were brave and proud. They loved their talent and loved their business. They were self-employed and maybe they employed other people at times as well and it is dreadful to think they cannot get anything. The Minister removed the moratorium as well, allowing the banks to go after them and some of those people cannot sleep now. They are ill now because they are so worried and frightened. They have wives and families to support and bills to pay.

Taxi drivers have also been badly impacted. Nobody in the last several months needed a taxi and I feel so sorry for them. We also have the man in the bread van. There are lots of self-employed people who pay their taxes and who are registered. They want to work. They do not mind working and they work long and arduous hours in arduous jobs, providing a service to the public. The public reciprocates by working with them, hiring or engaging them and that is the way it works. That is what makes them tick.

Musicians love to impart their talent, culture, teanga and everything in song and the people love it and are missing it. There is so much sadness and people are down about it because they love it. They would travel anywhere to hear it. They will get it on Zoom if they can but many people cannot and do not get it. We need to think of these people. There are large cohorts of people affected. Many artists applied for grants but only a small minority got them. I have nothing against the Arts Council but it got huge funding and some of the bigger companies got huge funding. Some of them got multiple funding from different schemes but the ordinary daoine beaga, the man in the van, the taxi or the truck, were not able to get anything. They will be needed again if we are going to have a recovering economy. They will be needed to supply goods, to balance supply and demand and kick-start our economy. Above all, they have wives or partners and families and they need to be supported and helped. Their children have to be educated, college fees have to be paid and everything else. It is very short sighted. They cannot get supports just because they do not have a rateable premises. What happened to "Ní neart go cur le chéile"? What happened to "We are all in this together"? We are not in it together. The banks are knocking on doors. Revenue is also knocking on doors in some cases, or writing to these people and they are so fearful, especially in the these dark, long days. They are seeing lockdowns continuing and they are not allowed to make a living. They must be entitled to get some supports from the State because they would be working if they were allowed to work and to work safely.

I came over here in a taxi this evening. The driver had spent money converting his taxi and it was quite safe. I asked him how he was getting on. "Don't even ask" he said. I believe he was driving just to get out of the house and to do a few runs. I thought the traffic this evening was busy enough but he said it would die after 6 p.m. He is self-employed with a newish car. It costs money for insurance, tax and so on. He has to pay those bills the same as everybody else. It is so sad that those cohorts of people - and there are many others that I did not mention - did not get the support that they deserve. Pensioners have been totally neglected because anybody over 66 did not get a penny from anywhere. All they wanted was the balance between the payment and what they had on the pension. It is heartless. We have been beating this drums for months and I do not know why the Minister cannot listen. Why can there not be some bit of equity and fairness for those groups of people who so badly need it?

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