Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

As the Minister of State will be aware, I have proposed amendments to address this issue. The section should either be withdrawn or the Minister should exercise his power not to commence it at the same time as the rest of the Bill. We had an extremely lengthy debate in these Houses when changes were being made in respect of the pandemic unemployment payment, PUP. We discussed whether it would be a social welfare payment and what obligations and implications might arise with regard to qualifying for redundancy, availability for work and whether claimants could travel for two weeks if it was to be such a payment. We had all of these discussions because a fundamental change to this payment was made over the summer. It was a legal change requiring legislation. We all discussed it and stood over it. None of us can claim a lack of awareness given that we debated the issue for approximately two hours. This change resulted in the PUP moving from a supplementary welfare or extraordinary need payment, which was how it was constructed, to an unemployment payment. It moved to a different part of the social welfare code, which resulted in different obligations being associated with it, including obligations in respect of taxation. It simply was not the case that this payment was taxable prior to the change on 5 August.

I do not know if the Government is gambling that ordinary families will not have the wherewithal or the financial, emotional or psychological capacity to challenge this change. Is that the logic for pushing ahead with it? With regard to any such changes to corporation tax for businesses, we are constantly told that tax cannot be applied retrospectively and that these measures cannot look backwards. We are also often told about things like double taxation. The arguments made in that regard are sometimes framed in a spurious way. We have been told on many occasions the reasons we cannot increase taxes even on those who have, as we come to the end of the year, profited substantially during the Covid period in a way that had not been anticipated. Despite this, we are going back in time to tax those who are in receipt of the pandemic unemployment payment.

We must look at this legislation in the context of a suite of other legislation we have debated. It should be borne in mind that we debated legislation in this House which allows for somebody who is only 28 days in arrears of rent to be given only 28 days to pay. We have not only increased the potential financial load on families who are going to be pushed to the pin, but we have also increased the jeopardy attached to falling short financially. That is the situation into which we are sending people next year, after the eviction ban and curtailment have been lifted. When people come off the pandemic unemployment payment, they will be left with a very large bill and greater financial risk.

The right thing to do is not to force people to fight this, because I am sure some people will fight it and that they will win. We are also increasing the workload of the Money Advice and Budgeting Service, MABS, FLAC and all of those instruments of the State that are meant to help people stay afloat and help families maintain their finances. It would be advisable not to add on this extra three or four months in a way which is not legally robust. We should be satisfied to simply tax the portion of the pandemic unemployment payment paid after 5 August. This is legislatively, legally and morally the more responsible thing to do. I hope the Minister of State will consider either withdrawing the section or, if he is not minded to do so given the time pressures of Christmas, committing to not commencing it.