Catherine Ardagh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for coming to the House. I join other Members in what has been said about maternity leave for politicians. I am a politician who took maternity leave during my Seanad term, but, in fact, it was not maternity leave because I had to hand in a sick note to the one-stop shop. That is wrong. I was not sick; I had two children. We are all ad idemin terms of regularising the situation. The Minister stepped up to the plate, as we discussed yesterday.

We must also regularise the situation regarding class K employees generally, not just those seeking maternity benefit, but also illness benefit, jobseeker’s benefit and other such benefits that we discussed yesterday. The Minister mentioned yesterday that she thinks it should be done on a cross-party basis and we all agree with that. Perhaps she might be able to schedule something in the new year through the Leader's office in order that we can have a debate in this House with the Minister or by means of something more solid such as a Cabinet recommendation, but it must be sorted.I also join with others in respect of the 5 p.m. cut off. A friend of mine, who is a young, energetic and amazing businesswoman, recently opened a restaurant. She is cut off at the knees now. Hopefully, her business, which is a beautiful restaurant, thrives but this will really hit business people. We have a great culture and attract so many tourists because we have a great night-time culture but if all these pubs and restaurants are hammered so much, they will not open up again and we will have nothing left. There is significant responsibility on all of us as individuals, and I have always been a huge supporter of antigen testing, to be responsible and use an antigen test before we go out. We must trust people to be responsible because the majority of us are responsible. I do not agree with the 5 p.m. cut off or with closing schools. Whatever we do, we should keep schools open. It is the most important thing to do because it affects children. Could the Minister look at the 5 p.m. cut off and provide a significant support package for the hospitality sector? We want it to be there when this pandemic is over. We want to have a beautiful and thriving city and without support, it will be decimated.