Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Deputy Verona Murphy. I will take four minutes and she will have four and a half. The Minister recently brought a memorandum to Cabinet proposing the extension of the pandemic unemployment payment scheme until the end of March. This is very welcome news and an action I support. In light of the extended lockdown, and the prospect that it could be extended even further, will the Minister confirm that the pandemic unemployment payment will be extended beyond the end of March? As she knows, the number of people receiving the pandemic unemployment payment has now reached 475,000, with more than 15,000 added in the last week alone. These workers would be still in work today but, because of the Covid pandemic and through no fault of their own, they are now effectively unemployed. We must continue to support these workers in these extremely challenging times and confirming that the pandemic unemployment payment will be extended beyond March would at least give these workers some peace of mind.

It should be remembered that these workers still have to pay their rent and their mortgages and that their household bills have not gone away. The pandemic unemployment payment, while very welcome, is still a good deal less than what the vast majority would have earned if still in employment. It would be very helpful to confirm that the pandemic unemployment payment will be extended beyond March should we still be in lockdown which, unfortunately, looks very likely.

Another issue I will raise with the Minister today is that of cross-Border workers and their entitlement to social welfare benefits when they are let go as a result of Covid. As the Minister knows, thousands of workers cross the Border each day to go work. Thousands travel from the North to the South and thousands more travel from the South to the North for work purposes. Will the Minister confirm what entitlements southern workers have to social welfare when work in the North but are temporarily laid off as a result of Covid? They pay their taxes and national insurance contributions in the North. Will the Minister confirm if they are entitled to the pandemic unemployment payment? Are they required to apply for assistance in the North? Will the Minister also confirm what entitlements workers from Northern Ireland who work and pay taxes and PRSI here in the South have when it comes to social welfare benefits? Are they entitled to receive the pandemic unemployment payment? As someone from Dundalk, which is in a Border county, these are the questions I am asked. I would appreciate it if the Minister would answer them.

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