Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements Dail Éireann — 2020-05-07 ============================================================ Richard Boyd Barrett (PBP), Dún Laoghaire The Taoiseach has not given a clear commitment that there will be no cuts or tapering until the pandemic is over and until all the employment lost as a result of the pandemic has been restored. The Taoiseach should give a commitment, and I am asking for a commitment, that the over 66s and the under 18s who are being unfairly discriminated against get the payment also, and that many workers in the gig economy who did not happen to be working at the time but might have been working a week or two later would also get the payment. Will the Taoiseach also give some sort of serious response to the plight of the Debenhams workers and other workers who could face cynical exploitation by their employers, who might try to throw them on the scrapheap using the Covid-19 emergency as a cover, and intervene and protect their jobs? --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2020-05-07/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:48:17+00:00 Sitting date: 2020-05-07