Dáil debates

Thursday, 9 December 2021

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions

Covid-19 Pandemic

10:30 am

Photo of Louise O'ReillyLouise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This is my issue. As the Tánaiste mentioned the drop in the number of people receiving the PUP, he might use his own platform to deal with some of what comes from people like Pat McDonagh, who say that those on the PUP are living it large and they will not go back to work. All of the available evidence actually suggests that the minute work is available, people are straight back at it and they want to be back in work. The difficulty for people in the private sector and those working in small companies, in particular, is having available staff and supports there to get them through the process. The Tánaiste has heard me say many times that the best defence any worker can have is to join a union. Where there is a union and a process, that is one element of it. However, the unfortunate things is that many people do not have that, so there will need to be additional staff to shepherd people through. It is not easy to become redundant. It is awful to lose your job, but to have to deal with the paperwork then when you may never have had experience of that before is difficult. I want to hear from the Tánaiste that his Department will provide additional resources to help people through the process.

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