Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Be that as it may, the Taoiseach will acknowledge that come September there are workers who will not be returned to work and who will not be in a position to get back to work. The Taoiseach knows that. The economy will not be operating at full tilt by September. The Taoiseach knows that. Yet, the Government is choosing to cut the supports that these workers and their families rely on. Everybody wants to get back to work as quickly as possible. However, the State and the Government have to make provision for the section of workers who will not have returned by September or even during the course of this year, including workers in aviation, events and hospitality.

It is wrong and unfair to punish those workers who cannot return to work because of a public health emergency. I again put it to the Taoiseach that the fair thing to do is for this Government to tell every worker that we want them to return to work quickly and safely but also to support them for as long as they cannot return to work because of the public health emergency. I invite the Taoiseach to do that rather than to cut the very support these people need to survive and which they will need through September. Many of them will rely on it until the end of the year.

See this speech in context