Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change) | Oireachtas source

I previously raised with the Taoiseach on Questions on Promised Legislation the issue of a worker on the front line, who has been at the coal face since March 2020, risking her health and well-being and those of her family. McCauley's pharmacy put that worker and many of her work colleagues on the temporary wage subsidy scheme, TWSS, without their knowledge. She and her colleagues received notice from Revenue early this year, stating she had a tax obligation from March to September 2020. That means she has effectively taken a pay cut of more than €2,000. Workers were told they owe anything from €1,000 to €2,500 tax liability, which is essentially an effective pay cut of up to three to five weeks' pay.

The temporary wage subsidy scheme was introduced to assist companies to keep their workers on the payroll throughout the pandemic and to keep companies open. The logic of the scheme was positive in terms of the initiative by the Government. The criteria for the TWSS were that it was for companies experiencing significant negative economic disruption and that were able to demonstrate to Revenue a minimum of a 25% decline in turnover, in which case the State would pay up to 70% to 85% of the workers' net wage, to a maximum of €410. Employer's PRSI was reduced from 11.5% to 0.5% and Revenue dropped tax liability on the workers' gross pay.

Many workers were receiving their net pay without realising that their employer was availing of the TWSS. I have been contacted by other workers employed by McCauley's pharmacy, as well as many other workers. One of those who contacted me works for a US multinational company with three plants in Ireland, while another works for a different US multinational manufacturing company which he states gained €15,000 by putting him on the scheme while he faces a €2,500 tax bill. He states that the unit in which he works posted profits of more than €1.5 million in 2020. The TWSS section of the Revenue website has an A to Z list of hundreds of companies that have applied for the scheme, which translates into thousands of workers, effectively. These workers are outraged. They are front-line workers who have been deemed essential workers and they are now being taxed on their net pay. This is wrong. Revenue has established on its website a facility for companies such as McCauley's pharmacy to pay their workers the tax liability yet this is not happening. I do not think the Government introduced the scheme in order for workers to receive an effective pay cut and employers to benefit from the scheme at their expense.

When I raised this issue with the Taoiseach previously, he advised me to send details of the worker's specific case to him even though I emphasised it was affecting the majority of workers in McCauley's pharmacy. I sent him those details. On 15 March, I received an email from the Department of the Taoiseach, stating that the case was being forwarded to the Department of Social Protection. It was then forwarded to the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe. The silence since then has been deafening. I am putting it to the Taoiseach that he should not allow these workers to take an effective pay cut. He should do the decent thing, instruct Revenue to change tack and instruct employers to pay the tax liability or, otherwise, scrap the tax.

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