Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Humphreys, for being here to take this Topical Issue. This matter is of crucial importance for many people who have applied for the pandemic unemployment payment, PUP, but who have encountered what can only be described as a bureaucratic mess.

Initially, the pandemic unemployment payment was a flat-rate payment of €350 per week. It provided solace and support to tens of thousands of workers and business people who had been forced to close their doors. The Government decided to amend the PUP from a flat rate of €350 for every individual who applied to a tiered system that resulted in different payments depending on people's previous salaries. Difficulties have arisen predominantly, it appears, for small business owners in respect of whom the Department does not have a clear or immediate access to PRSI contributions. This could have and should have been identified as an issue prior to the new system being introduced and prior to the most recent lockdown and restriction measures.

After the Tánaiste, Deputy Varadkar, decided to kick about the National Public Health Emergency Team on live television with regard to its recommendations for level 5, the Government subsequently moved to exactly that position a short time later. The rationale given by the Government at the time was to ensure that the additional time as a result of the delay was to ensure all measures could be put in place to support small business owners and people who might be affected economically. In that regard, it was a downright disaster for many of the people who have been in contact with me. Shortly after the new regime came into place, I received an email from a constituent of the Minister and of mine. It stated that due to phase 4 restrictions, the business was forced to close on Friday 16 October. The person applied online for the PUP and received an email on the Friday evening stating the person was not entitled to the payment but to forward any documents to a different email address. The person checked online at www.mywelfare.iebut there was no notification looking for the person's documents. There was only a notification stating that the application was being processed. There was also a warning notification stating that the MyGovID service does not send details asking for financial or personal documents to be emailed. I could read dozens of similar emails that I have received. I could read dozens of text messages and relay dozens of telephone calls I have had with distressed people. These are predominantly people like hairdressers. Quite a number of them are small business owners. They were forced to close their doors as a result of the Government decision. The Government did not have the work done to provide them with supports.

Many of the cases that have been brought to my attention have been resolved following interaction with the Department. I thank the Minister's staff who are involved in this area in that regard. Yet, people should not have to go to their local politician to get what they are entitled to in respect of Covid assistance. It should be provided readily. Measures need to be put in place to resolve that.

Will the Minister ensure that the anomalies clearly in place are resolved for all outstanding applicants? Will the Minister ensure that the anomaly whereby many employers who have been forced to close their doors and who have been put on a reduced payment is resolved? We have the ludicrous situation in our county where employers have had to close their doors and they are on payments lower than those of their workers as a result of this debacle. Finally, will the Minister give clarification on the PUP recipients from the initial stage in March, April and May? Will the Minister clarify the position on those owed arrears in PUP? Will they all be paid prior to the Christmas period?

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Carthy, my constituency colleague, for raising this issue. The pandemic unemployment payment has been a vital support for hundreds of thousands of workers and their families throughout Covid-19. Since March, my Department has issued over 12 million payments to over 800,000 people. A total of €4 billion has been paid out under the scheme to date.

I wish to acknowledge the staff in the Department of Social Protection for the extraordinary work they have put in since March to ensure that payments have been issued quickly to those who need them. This demonstrates what public service is all about. I wish to assure the Deputy that the matter he has raised today does not relate to errors in the records of my Department.

The Department uses earnings data supplied by the Revenue Commissioners for 2019 and 2020 in the case of employees and for 2018 and 2019 in the case of self-employed people for the pandemic unemployment payment. Where difficulties in verifying records have arisen in a small number of cases, it is typically due to outstanding or late returns or delays or non-compliance in the recording or reporting of income and earnings to Revenue.

The Deputy will appreciate that if a person is working or self-employed, that person is liable to pay PRSI. It is reasonable, therefore, to expect that a person claiming the pandemic unemployment payment would have a recent and verifiable record of PRSI. Where a person has applied for the PUP and my Department cannot find any record of PRSI contributions or earnings, the Department contacts the person concerned and asks the person to submit evidence of employment, for example, a payslip. Where the person provides evidence, the claim is put into payment as quickly as possible, generally within a week of receiving the information. Dedicated teams are in place in my Department to follow up on all replies as quickly as possible. I am glad that many of the instances Deputy Carthy raised were subsequently resolved.

The staff of my Department are working morning, noon and night to process payments efficiently and quickly. Since the start of October alone, they have processed and paid over 200,000 new PUP claimants. I wish to put that in context. This is the equivalent to a full year claim load in a normal year.

It is always the case when processing such a large volume of claims that there will inevitably be some cases not paid as quickly as others due to incomplete or missing information or simply because a person does not satisfy the eligibility criteria. As I have said, where that happens my Department contacts the individuals concerned. When the necessary information is submitted, the applicant is put into payment as soon as possible.

I am pleased to say my Department has been working very hard on getting the arrears issue resolved. We hope to have the arrears paid prior to Christmas.

Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister for her response. She has outlined how the system is supposed to work and should work, but new cases are coming to my attention daily. We need to get this matter resolved because I cannot go back to these people, whom we both know in many cases, and tell them essentially that the Department says it is their fault they have not received payment. These are hard-working people who want to open their businesses in the first instance. They want to get back to work. That is their primary objective. In the meantime, however, they want a little support. It should be remembered that these people do not have the payment breaks from the banks that they had previously. In many cases they are coming under pressure from landlords and the like. They are therefore asking the Minister to step up on their behalf. I was speaking to some of them today, people who have been affected by this debacle and others, many of whom were less than impressed by the Minister's speech earlier, in which she decided to defend the indefensible by going into the gutter and engaging in what I would describe as a rotten display of deflection. I remind the Minister that when she attacks Sinn Féin, she attacks many very good, decent-----

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Will the Deputy stick to the Topical Issue matter, please?

Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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-----and hard-working people within her own constituency. I encourage the Minister to forget about the gutter politics and instead sort out the unresolved issues that relate to her Department. These are business people, employers and the backbone of local communities in our constituency. They deserve support, and I ask the Minister to make sure they do not face an unnecessary wait to receive their payments.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I will stick to the issue at hand. I reassure the Deputy that my Department is doing everything in its power to process payments as quickly as possible. The vast majority of claims have been put into payment without any issue. This week, for example, PUP payments have issued to more than 342,000 people. I am advised that there was an issue with about 1% of the total claims. When that happens the Department contacts the individuals involved, and when they provide the necessary information they are put into payment. It is important as well to point out that some people do not reply at all. That would tell me that they know they are not entitled to a payment. In fairness, we need checks and balances in place because at the end of the day this is taxpayers' money. My priority is to ensure resources go to the people who need them most, and that is what we are doing. For self-employed individuals, my Department has recently received an update from the Revenue Commissioners on the 2019 self-assessment returns. As these returns are filed annually and the deadline for filing is 10 December 2020, some returns will be outstanding.

If the Deputy wants me to check any specific individual cases and if he sends in the details, I will be happy to ask my officials to examine them. For many years the self-employed got nothing. There was no support or assistance available to them. However, thanks to the legislation that was passed in 2019, for the first time ever self-employed people who pay PRSI can get this unemployment support, and it is only right and proper that they should. My Department is here to help people, not to put obstructions in their way. We are here to help people in what is a difficult time for everybody.