Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

By the Deputy's own admission, hundreds of thousands of people came off the PUP last year and so I think she is overstating the case. The same will happen this year. I do not accept that people currently on the PUP will not be able to get a job in the economy in the coming months. I think there will be a significant recovery.

Sustaining it for the medium term is what the plan is about. It is not just about the immediate sort of bounceback that will happen in some sectors. It is also about maintaining that for the medium term. That is why we are allocating resources to new sectors. It is to give added funding to sectors that can create new jobs, economic activity and economic momentum, which is very important, and to underpin all of that with training and reopening the economy, as we have been doing over the past number of weeks. Construction, full retail and personal services are back. Tomorrow, hotels, guest houses and bed and breakfast accommodation are back. The vaccination programme will continue to be rolled out. We look forward to restaurants and pubs reopening next week and further openings in July, all of which will create employment opportunities and facilitate people naturally coming off the pandemic unemployment payment.

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