Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

On the earlier question relating to dialogue, it is a fact that the Taoiseach met taxi drivers and that the Minister is engaged with musicians and entertainment people. The Taoiseach either does not know, which is dreadful, or he is being dishonest. According to the Department of Social Protection, the PUP will be withdrawn from those whose PUP rate is reduced on 7 September to €203 and they will be told to go on jobseeker's allowance or to sign off the PUP. Therefore, they cannot earn that extra bit of money to which the Taoiseach referred. They will be told they are unemployed or they can return to work and lose all supports when their industries will not have recovered. Will the Taoiseach please clarify the situation? These people have been writing to him on this issue. They want dialogue and they want answers.

Another group, comprising student nurses and midwives, including those in the disability and mental health sectors, were promised that they would get €100 per week for their placements. That is a miserable response to their demand to be properly paid when they are on placement, working on wards and so on, which in reality they have been doing for years, but particularly during the pandemic. I am informed this week by a student nurse that while the miserable €100 was paid to nurses and midwives, despite the promises, those working in disability and mental health care did not get their €100, a miserable amount. They should at least get what the Government promised them. I ask the Taoiseach to please look into that or to confirm if they will be paid the €100 they were promised. The Government should be giving them a hell of a lot more than that.

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