Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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64. To ask the Minister for Finance if a similar mechanism could be found to assist businesses which are seasonal by nature such as a company (details supplied) and that were not in operation on the designated day in view of the commitment to find a solution to the issue of women returning to the workforce at the end of maternity leave and their entitlement to be brought within the terms of the temporary wage subsidy scheme. [8610/20]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The TWSS is an emergency measure to deal with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the economy.

Of necessity, the underlying legislation and the scheme itself have been developed very quickly, having regard to the overarching urgent Government objective of getting much needed assistance to employers and employees, where businesses have been seriously affected by the pandemic and the necessary restrictions introduced to fight the spread of the Covid-19 virus. 

The TWSS ultimately gives a sum to employers to cover a portion of their wage bill in circumstances where the employer’s business has been negatively impacted by the restrictions that have had to be introduced to stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus. 

The sum the employer receives is based on the employees who were on their payroll on 29 February 2020, the net salary such employees received in January and February 2020, as well as the extent to which the employer remains able to continue to discharge their legal obligation to pay their employees’ salaries.

In this way it is intended to maintain the net pay of as many employees as possible at this time and to preserve the link between the employee and employer insofar as is possible, as well as firm viability, through this truly exceptional period.

One of the core principles of the scheme that is necessary to prevent abuse is the requirement that the employees for which a claim is submitted must be on the payroll of the employer as at 29 February 2020.  Thus, where an individual commenced a new employment after 29 February 2020 that salary cannot be included in the calculation of the sum that is available to the employer under the TWSS.

There are no plans to revisit the core criteria. The TWSS is built upon historic PAYE returns made to Revenue – this is fundamental to the operational of the scheme which has given support to nearly 500,000 employees.