Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I heard all the Deputies speak with great concern about businesses that have been affected by the public health restrictions that are due to and necessary because of this terrible disease, the strain and anxiety that those who are running these businesses are experiencing at present and, of course, the huge effects that the loss of a job is having on those whom they represent. I have been in the same meetings. I have met the same businesses. I have met so many people over the past year who have been affected in exactly the way described by all the Deputies who spoke but that is the very reason that this Government and the previous Government acted with speed and at scale to create certainty to support our economy at a time it is under such massive strain. To hear Opposition Members speak about a meagre response and about schemes being successful because they are designed to exclude businesses shows that they either do not appreciate the scale of what this Government is doing or they do not care in their hurry to make political points at a time when worry is so high and employers and those who work with them are so concerned about their future.

One figure that the House has not heard mentioned in this debate so far is the cost of all of this to the taxpayer.

One heard Sinn Féin allege the money is there to be spent. Over the past year and this year, we will see our national debt and the amount of money our country is borrowing increase by €35 billion. A share of that €35 billion will go into our public health measures. However, it will also go to support the very businesses and people raised by Government and Opposition Deputies this afternoon. If one looks at that scale of support, the business and income supports alone across last year totalled €12.57 billion. That has been put into supporting income and employers at exactly the time that support is needed. It has made a significant difference.

Money that has been made available, due to having a well-run economy as well as the support of the European Union and the European Central Bank, has supported businesses at a time of massive strain. I listened carefully to the points made by Opposition Deputies on the cost of the Covid-19 restrictions support scheme. It is true that during the early weeks of the operation of the scheme, its weekly cost was lower than had been anticipated in the budget arithmetic. However, I did not hear any reference to the fact that we now also must pay for having so many hundreds of thousands of people in receipt of the pandemic unemployment payment. We have additional funding, which we are making available, for the cost of the employment wage subsidy scheme, a hugely important intervention to support hundreds of thousands of workers exactly when they need it.

Additional money is being borrowed by the Government, as was announced on budget day, along with that coming through from our taxes, to support other schemes that are needed more now that will support income and employers exactly at the time they need this support. When we look at the figures for the Covid-19 restrictions support scheme, which has cost over €200 million and was money that has been well used to support employers, we must also acknowledge that we need to use €1 billion extra to pay for the pandemic unemployment payment and employment wage subsidy scheme for this year alone. We are able to do that because of where we were at before Covid hit. We want to do it because of the need to support those who need help at a time of dealing with Covid.

My colleagues, the Tánaiste and Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, and the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Deputy Catherine Martin, with whom I will work, have put in place funds to supports tourism, such as the coach tourism business continuity scheme. I appreciate there are businesses outside the remit of the Covid-19 restrictions support scheme but there are also businesses availing of other available supports from the Government. For those businesses not in a position to do that, I will work with my colleagues in government to respond to that.

We will do all that in the context of €12 billion being spent to support our economy at a time when our public health system is under such strain. These are extremely large schemes which are working and are making a difference to income, to employers and to jobs at a time when our country continues to confront the significant challenge of Covid-19.

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