The Estimates are not in direct contradiction to the statement I made at the opening of this session five hours ago. The Estimates presented today are based on no change being made to policy. The latest legislation was passed on 19 March. The Estimates are based on everything that had gone on heretofore. The presentation of the Estimates today in no way ties the hands of Government or restricts its ability to make decisions about future payments. As I also said earlier, there will probably be a need for another Est…

I will go backwards to point out that the social protection code we have had in this country for many years is absolutely effective in protecting people from poverty. The Deputy does not have to take my word for it. The ESRI and Social Justice Ireland will tell him that. It will continue to offer that protection and any changes we have made, and will make in the future, will be put through the standard algorithms to make sure they do not have any negative impact. Regarding the situation of people on maternity leave…

I thank the Deputy but, unfortunately, neither of the issues he raised relates directly to my Department. However, he made very valid points. He is not the first to raise the Safe Pass today, or perhaps he might have raised it with the Minister for Finance earlier when I was listening. I will raise it tomorrow with the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation and ensure we can find a way to do that. We should be doing anything that can encourage people back to work. Second, a number of weeks ago the Cabinet…

Again, I would say, and the Deputy is probably well aware, that was the subject of many conversations during the general election campaign. It would be a matter for the programme for Government and I hope those negotiations will come to a successful conclusion and outcome in the next number of days.

The first point the Deputy raised was on maternity leave. One would be daft not to see the merits. Of course I see the merits, and I will certainly make representations, as has been asked of me, so that is not a problem. I thought we had filled the gap with regard to those sole traders over the age of 66. The reason we could not include them in the Covid-19 payment is that the working age entitlements the legislation governs - employment assistance and benefits - runs from age 18 to 66. Anybody else who falls out o…

The Deputy knows that we have had two meetings with Safe Ireland and other representative bodies in recent weeks. Matters are progressing well and I will continue to make sure that we do that. Streamlining the process is the key to making sure we are responsive to people. In the first instance, we are absolutely putting people in emergency accommodation and paying for that emergency accommodation for two weeks so that we can get them a sustainable stream of income. That will be rent supplement for some people. We h…

I wish to reassure the Deputy that when anybody's health and well-being is in danger or their safety is at risk, the departmental officials have discretionary powers to allow them to work outside the normal rules we would have. I know we said we have relaxed rules with regard to rent supplement. I reassure the Deputy that any departmental official dealing with a lady who finds herself in that awful situation will use whatever is within our gift to ensure that we look after them and keep them safe. I say that to rea…

I do not think anybody present could have predicted the unprecedented turmoil we have experienced in the past few short months. We had near full employment and a still-declining live register. We are now in a situation where the funds from the social protection Vote are acting as an income shock absorber to over 1 million people who have lost their jobs. The outbreak of Covid-19 and the essential public health measures to contain the spread of the virus have given rise to the largest monthly increase in the unemplo…

To answer a direct question, the payment will have to be extended. It was introduced to support people's incomes while their normal incomes were not available to them. We are aware that based on the phases of the reopening of society, this will occur at different times for different people, so-----

I will tell the Deputy what I can do. I can confirm to him that it will be extended. In which shape and form, however, the decision has not been made yet. The matter is under active consideration and the decision will probably be made in the coming weeks. As soon as it has been arrived at, I will be the first to tell everybody. The most important thing to say is that it was introduced to support people's incomes. I said it last week-----

Deputy Brady is asking me a question. I do not think his comment is fair. It is not that I am not willing; we have not made the decision yet. The decision to support people's incomes still stands and will stand for all of the phases until society is reopened again.

Shall I go back to the start of the questions?

Okay. That is no problem.

There were questions asked before the Deputy's contribution.

That is fine by me.

There is no problem. The Covid-19 unemployment payment is payable to people resident in Ireland who lose their employment as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. European Union citizens have the right to live and work in any European Union country and cross-border workers, termed as frontier workers, arise where people work on one side of a border but live on the other and return home at least once per week. The position regarding frontier workers is that the pandemic unemployment payment is consistent with the rules…

The wage subsidy scheme was introduced in that way because many companies had poor cashflows. In the first two weeks after the wage subsidy scheme was introduced and when there was some confusion as to the criteria, many people let their staff go, went onto the Covid payment and took their staff back knowing full well that the Revenue Commissioners were refunding the wages in real time. If someone was paid on the Monday, he or she was getting a refund from the Revenue Commissioners on the Tuesday. I do not mean to …

They have been here for many years. I did not make the rules. We just have to abide by them.

I congratulate the Deputy. He is very welcome. I agree with him. I do not know the ins and outs of that, but whatever way the owner of the coffee shop was treated, what happened is a shame. It is not within my gift or that of my Department to introduce such legislation, but I will have a conversation with the Minister who is in charge and ask him to revert to the Deputy directly.

I thank colleagues for their comments regarding the hard work of staff, which I will pass on to them. The PUP scheme, as I said earlier, was introduced at speed and is due to finish its first round on 9 June. I put it categorically on the record that the scheme will, of course, be extended. It was introduced to support the income that was lost temporarily by people as we closed down the economy. We obviously will have to support people until the economy reawakens, and that is going to happen in different phases. Th…