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

I pointed out to the Minister and to other Ministers previously that certain cohorts of people who should get support and tick all the boxes for the support schemes are mysteriously excluded from them, which is really unfair. Obviously, I support the CRSS and have done so previously. I agree that the new business resumption support scheme dealt with in the Bill should be established but, once again, unless I am wrong - the Minister could just answer the question directly - I am assuming that drivers of public service vehicles, that is, taxi drivers, are being excluded from this scheme. Similarly, jobbing lone trader musicians and many of those who work in live performance have been excluded from all of the support schemes for no good reason, although I accept there are other supports for elements in the music, arts and live entertainment sector. I would love to hear that will change under this new scheme, but I am assuming that, for reasons that are inexplicable and, to my mind, completely unfair, the Government has once again excluded those particular cohorts, who continue to be impacted by the pandemic in both cases because they are linked to things like travel, tourism, hospitality and so on and, therefore, are not able to earn the sort of income and livelihood they were able to earn previously. Many taxi drivers have not even returned to work because they know there is not enough income out there. Rather, they are waiting for a full recovery of their sector.

To add insult to injury in that regard, they are now discovering that they are facing a cliff in terms of the one support they did get, namely, the PUP. They are being told that as soon as they hit the €203 rate they will be pushed onto a jobseeker's payment even though they are not jobseekers - they are taxi drivers, musicians or performers. If they do not accept that, they will face the loss of the PUP altogether, even though they cannot earn a full livelihood on the road or, in the case of music or whatever, because gigs have not recommenced.

There is still huge uncertainty around these areas. These people will almost certainly not be able to make a living. They seem to be losing out on both fronts, in terms of the PUP and their exclusion from the support schemes, when they have carried many costs and incurred debts because they have been hit, effectively closed down or had their earning capacity dramatically reduced as a result of the pandemic and the pandemic measures.

I ask the Minister to come back and tell me that they have not been excluded this time or if they have, why they have been excluded. It is grossly unfair.

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