Regina Doherty (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

However, I will certainly organise a debate. There is one scheduled with the Tánaiste on business supports in the next couple of weeks, but I have attempted to seek debates from a health perspective, a transport perspective and a business perspective and I will organise them as soon as I get dates.

Senator Carrigy, among others, mentioned the lockdown issue. I listened to Mr. David McRedmond on RTÉ this morning and heard his welcome call seeking more business to be put through the An Post network of more than 900 post offices around the country. I appreciate they are doing banking on behalf of some of the pillar banks that have pulled out of some towns, which is an awful pity, but there is a great deal more that the State can do and should be doing. During my time in the Department of Social Protection they played a huge role in alleviating fraud in respect of the social welfare payments made through the system. One of Mr. McRedmond's biggest criticisms this morning was the fact that the pandemic unemployment payment, PUP, was paid directly into people's bank or Revolut accounts. I have to be honest with Senators. Obviously, I was a Minister at the conception of the PUP. It was done for speed. Many people did not have post office accounts so we just had to do it. However, we have managed to tweak and refine that payment over time and now it is being wound down, but we certainly should be looking towards increasing the social welfare payments through the post offices. It was a vital flow of revenue for them, but it also ensured that we saved revenue because of the human interaction with payments. It is something we should definitely return to.

Senator Fitzpatrick mentioned lockdown and the media, and asked for antigen testing to be free. That is something I concur with and I have been saying it until I have probably been blue in the face, but I believe we will get there eventually. I am aware that the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, is bringing a memorandum to the Cabinet next week.

Senator Gavan asked for a debate on the Ombudsman. I have put in a request. This morning's report is shocking and I am not taking away from it. It is a sad reflection on the response of this Government and its predecessor to the shelving of the mobility grant scheme in 2013. I acknowledge the Senator said that today. I have a debate scheduled on the cost of disability report that I commissioned in 2019. That might encompass both aspects because transport is obviously a huge cost for people who have different abilities or disabilities but if the Senator would like a separate debate, he might talk to me afterwards.