Dáil debates

Tuesday, 1 June 2021

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions

 

2:05 pm

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

First of all, I agree with the Deputy in terms of the good news in recent weeks that people are returning to work in considerable numbers. We have been in a position to do this through our management of the pandemic and though a successful and efficiently run vaccination programme which is having a dramatic impact on the severity of illness in society from the virus and on reducing death and hospitalisation and numbers in intensive care. The efficient national vaccination effort is enabling us to return to economic growth and recovery and to bring people back to work.

What we announced today in terms of extending the schemes is a continuation of that economic recovery story. We have fulfilled our commitment in terms of not having a cliff edge. The employment wage subsidy scheme supports 315,000 workers. We are extending that to Christmas. The whole idea is to support enterprise and to enable enterprises that retain jobs to stay viable and keep jobs going in the economy.

We are doing the same with the Covid-19 restrictions support scheme extension with enhanced restart payments of three weeks at a double rate. This will be significant for people in hospitality, for example, and in other sectors. This significant restart grant really gives people a fighting chance not only in maintaining the employment they have maintained under the supports they have got from Government but by increasing employment in the coming weeks. We know that more and more people will come off the pandemic unemployment payment during the summer months. We are extending the pandemic unemployment payment out to September. Then, gradually, we are easing out of that up to February 2022.

We are not just doing that. All of that is in parallel with an unprecedented work activation programme with substantial funding being allocated to reskilling training programmes, upskilling programmes, education places, increased apprenticeships and increased internship programmes. There will be more placements available in the public service for many people and investment in research to create a new approach and new orientations within the economy. We will use the funding we are receiving from the recovery and resilience fund in Europe not only to invest in the human capital side and in people but also to create new jobs in retrofitting and public transport. This is what we are going to do with the railway project for Cork, which will be significant in terms of leveraging other economic and employment opportunities there. That is one example. Another is the new facility in Beggar's Bush. The new Department building there is a pathway finder building. It will be state-of-the-art in terms of emissions reduction and so on. This is an imaginative programme designed to prepare the country for recovery in the coming period and to start growing jobs in new sectors like the green economy and digital transformation. It is about giving the supports to aviation that are required and about clarity in direction of travel in terms of the reopening of international travel and the events industry. Significant supports are in place for musicians under the music entertainment business assistance scheme. This will support musicians in wedding bands or those who perform in smaller live venues. We are initiating a basic income pilot scheme for artists.

This is a significant comprehensive agenda ultimately with a view that by 2024 we will have 2.5 million people in jobs. That will exceed the numbers of people in employment before the pandemic. The broader objective of Government is to create opportunities for people to return to work.

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