Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputies Boyd Barrett, Mattie McGrath and Danny Healy-Rae for the issues they have raised.

I will respond to the issues raised by Deputy Boyd Barrett first. On the business restrictions support scheme that is being introduced, a broader group of occupations is included in it, provided that recipients meet certain criteria in relation to their level of trading. That does include taxi drivers. It will include food suppliers, for example, in response to the issue that Deputy Danny Healy-Rae raised, as well as other occupations that have been particularly hard hit by the pandemic.

The business restrictions support scheme is a single payment. It is a percentage of the recipient's income or turnover across the qualifying period. The scheme is being brought in, with the first payment due in September, to try to deal with the issue of how we can support particular parts of our society and economy in one scheme, as opposed to the wide variety of grant schemes that have been available during the pandemic. Those grant schemes have been of value. Deputy Boyd Barrett touched upon the live performance sector. Nearly €50 million worth of supports have been in place for the live performance sector since March, from the performance support scheme to a support scheme for the live entertainment business, all the way up to a different way of trying to do the St. Patrick's Day festival. Therefore, there have been a variety of supports in place for the live entertainment sector.

Deputy Boyd Barrett raised a point about the PUP, which takes me onto Deputy Mattie McGrath's point. The PUP is being reduced but the payment and its existence also are being extended up until early next year. The reductions will be made in a staged way over time, as we hope our economy becomes more open and stays fully open.

In response to the points raised by Deputy McGrath, when the PUP was first brought in, it was a flat rate payment of €350. The reason for that was that we were in a situation at the time in which we had to find a way of giving income support to hundreds of thousands of people who were losing their jobs because we were telling employers not to open up their businesses for public health reasons. Given the crisis situation that we were in, we did not have the ability to differentiate the PUP based on the pre-pandemic income of individuals. As the House will know, in the more recent existence of the PUP, since before last summer it has been restructured so that it is based on pre-pandemic earnings. There are four different payment bands of the PUP which correlate to what recipients were earning before they lost their jobs due to the pandemic.

On Deputy McGrath's point in relation to the Office of Public Works, I was not aware of that issue. I am sure that the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donovan is working to try to get more sites fully open. Some of the sites that I have visited locally across Dublin, have been safely open. I do not see why the sites to which the Deputy referred could not share a similar status.

On the points raised by Deputy Healy-Rae, I hope it is the case that for those businesses to which he referred, that have not accessed the CRSS, they will still be entitled to access the EWSS because the trade and income of the company or the employer is below a certain level. They might not be able to access some of the additional schemes that have been announced in recent months, but if the level of trading is as hard hit as the Deputy is saying it is, and I am sure that it is, they would, in those circumstances, be able to access the EWSS. I hope they are all in a position that they can reopen more fully as the year goes on.

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