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The Taoiseach has defended the Government\u2019s decision to cut the pandemic unemployment payment (PUP) from September.<\/p>\nThe Taoiseach has defended the Government\u2019s decision to cut the pandemic unemployment payment (PUP) from September.<\/p>\n
It was announced on Tuesday that the PUP will be phased out from September under the Government\u2019s National Economic Recovery Plan.<\/p>\n
Miche\u00e1l Martin told the D\u00e1il that the Government has \u201cfulfilled its commitment\u201d in not having a cliff edge in cuts to pandemic payments.<\/p>\n
The PUP will continue until early September, then will be cut by \u20ac50 a week over three phases.<\/p>\n
Mr Martin said \u201cmore and and more people\u201d will come off the PUP during the summer months.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re expanding the pandemic unemployment payment out to September and then gradually easing out of that over to February 2022,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we\u2019re not just doing that. That is parallel with an unprecedented work activation program with very substantial funding being allocated to reskilling training programs, upskilling programs and education places, increased apprenticeships, increased internship programs where there\u2019ll be more placements available in the public service.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sinn F\u00e9in president Mary Lou McDonald said the decision to start cutting the PUP was \u201cpremature and deeply unfair\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think you\u2019re walking away from your responsibility to these workers and to their families,\u201d Ms McDonald added.<\/p>\n
She told the D\u00e1il that not every person left unemployed because of the pandemic will be back working in September.<\/p>\n
\u201cTaoiseach, you will acknowledge that come September there are workers who will not be returned to work, who will not be in a position to get back to work, you know that,\u201d Ms McDonald said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe economy will not be operating at full tilt by September, you know that.<\/p>\n
\u201cYet you are choosing to cut the various supports that these workers and their families rely on.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody wants to get back to work, everybody wants to get back to work as quickly as possible, but the state and the Government have to make provision for that section of workers who will not return by September or even in the course of this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWorkers in aviation, in events, in hospitality. It is wrong, when those workers cannot return to work because of a public health emergency, to punish them, that is not fair.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Martin said the reopening of hotels, B&Bs and guesthouses on Wednesday will help people get back to work.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one expected emergency payments in the pandemic to be there forever,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Co-leader of the Social Democrats Roisin Shortall criticized the Government\u2019s decision to scale back payments in the coming months.<\/p>\n
She said the pandemic payments are a lifeline to hundreds of thousands of people.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have repeatedly promised that there will be no cliff edge when it came to the withdrawal of PUP, yet today you have announced that there will be a cliff edge,\u201d Ms Shortall added.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo matter what level of restrictions are in place across the country in September, payments will be reduced by \u20ac50.<\/p>\n
\u201cA further reduction of \u20ac50 will occur in November, and a final reduction in February.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn total that amounts to a huge 40 per cent cut in an already meagre payment.<\/p>\n
\u201cTaoiseach, this is the very definition of a cliff edge. You\u2019ve chosen an arbitrary date and determined to cut people\u2019s payments no matter what the public health advice is at that time and no matter what jobs may or may not be available.\u201d<\/p>\n