Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Why can we not exclude people who have enormous incomes? Surely there must be some way to do that? We used to use the peann luaidhe, but now we have computers. When PUP was introduced, I pleaded with the Minister concerned to address that. Anybody who is an employer knows that PRSI is now paid weekly. All of that information is on a computer. People could have been given what they were earning. Students and others working one or two nights a week who earned €100 or €120 ended up getting €350. Trying to wean people off that payment is like trying to take milk from a calf.

What happened was stupid. The press of a button would tell someone what each employee earned. There might be a few in the black market, but I am not talking about them. I am talking about legitimate businesses that paid people. We now have all kinds of problems as a result of the PUP. Some went on foreign holidays. Many people did not abuse it. The payment was too much. People should have received what they were paid. We are talking about supports, not luxuries. Why can we not separate payments like we separate the chaff from the oats? I do not mean that in a bad way; we do that at harvest time. That would mean people who do not need it will not get it. We can decide payments made to businesses that are in profit should be repaid, but it is very hard to get something back once it has been given.

As I said, the amendment refers to some mechanism for dispute resolution. The €100 will not go here nor there in terms of people's bills. Diesel, fuel, home heating oil and ESB bills have increased. There will be a €500 upfront cost for repairs to a roof under the retrofit scheme when it is introduced in October, following an assessment. People do not have that kind of money. They are on the breadline. They are struggling. The Government does not seem to get that people need money in their póca anois.

I do not know why Departments are so cumbersome that they cannot engage with people and have a humane approach. I am not knocking departmental officials, but the system is so unwieldy that we cannot seem to have that flexibility or understanding. As I said, we are too slow to react. We can react on budget night at 12 midnight, but when we want to give something back to people it takes months. I do not know when this will happen, but we are a good number of months away from the budget. Some other support packages are being considered.

We need a mini budget. The Government can deny that and keep its head in the sand, but it will have to happen because the people will starve, as I said yesterday. They are suffering every which way and cannot survive. It is not fair to our people. They have endured two years of hell. They are a resilient people, but the resilience is wearing thin at the moment. People are cross, angry and not at all happy.

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