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

I urge the Minister to review this again. I am aware, from having spoken to people in the trade union movement, that they want workers to go back to work to a safe environment. That is the key issue for them but they also want people to get back to work.

On the second part of my question on which I will speak briefly, I have been hearing anecdotal evidence that workers have been brought back to the workplace under different terms and conditions where they may have been previously working for 30 hours and these have now been reduced to 20 hours. In some cases wages have also been reduced. Workers who were on €12 an hour have been reduced down to the minimum wage. There is a concern there.

Alternatively, I have been hearing that workers have been brought back in for 50 hours a week because the employers cannot get staff in some areas. Very significant anecdotal messaging is going on in the workplace. Workers who potentially are going back to work for fewer hours than they were before in March 2020 should be kept on the level of the PUP that they were on to protect them. That is the easier way to do it, rather than the jobseeker's payment or short-time working week option.

See this speech in context