Vol. 1008 Tuesday, No. 1 1 June 2021 DÍOSPÓIREACHTAÍ PARLAIMINTE PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES DÁIL ÉIREANN TUAIRISC OIFIGIÚIL—Neamhcheartaithe (OFFICIAL REPORT—Unrevised) Insert Date Here 01/06/2021A00100Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders’ Questions 2 01/06/2021H00450An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business 11 01/06/2021Q03700Report of Committee on Standing Orders and Dáil Reform: Motion 21 01/06/2021Q04000Ceisteanna - Questions 22 01/06/2021Q04100Departmental Projects 22 01/06/2021S00400Urban Development 25 01/06/2021T00250Taoiseach’s Meetings and Engagements 29 01/06/2021V00100Situation in Belarus: Motion 33 01/06/2021JJ00400Ábhair Shaincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Matters 62 01/06/2021JJ00600Judicial Council (Amendment) Bill 2021: Second Stage [Private Members] 62 01/06/2021UU00500Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������87 01/06/2021UU00600Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions 87 01/06/2021UU00700Cybersecurity Policy 87 01/06/2021UU01500National Broadband Plan 89 01/06/2021VV00500North-South Interconnector 90 01/06/2021WW00250National Broadband Plan 92 01/06/2021WW01000Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions 94 01/06/2021WW01050Cybersecurity Policy 94 01/06/2021XX00800Digital Hubs ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������96 01/06/2021YY00750National Broadband Plan 98 01/06/2021ZZ00200Departmental Schemes 100 01/06/2021ZZ01000National Broadband Plan 102 01/06/2021AAA00800Environmental Policy 104 01/06/2021BBB00200Climate Change Negotiations 106 01/06/2021BBB00800Electricity Grid 107 01/06/2021CCC00400Post Office Network 109 01/06/2021DDD00150Electricity Generation 111 01/06/2021DDD01100Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate 112 01/06/2021DDD01150Disabilities Assessments 112 01/06/2021FFF00200Common Fisheries Policy ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 116 01/06/2021GGG00250Child Abuse ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 119 01/06/2021HHH00400Seirbhísí Oileán 122 DÁIL ÉIREANN Dé Máirt, 1 Meitheamh 2021 Tuesday, 1 June 2021 Chuaigh an Ceann Comhairle i gceannas ar 2 pm Paidir. Prayer. 01/06/2021A00100Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders’ Questions 01/06/2021A00200Deputy Mary Lou McDonald: Tens of thousands of people have gone back to work this month and many more will go back in the weeks ahead as restrictions are lifted. This is very good news because people need and want to be back at work. Their enthusiasm to return was demonstrated last year when 400,000 went back to work as restrictions were lifted. Workers do not want to be on the pandemic unemployment payment, PUP. They, and indeed all of us, hope such supports will be required and necessary only for the shortest possible time. The reality is that, come September, some people will still be locked out of work due to public health restric- tions. Among them will be those in aviation, hospitality and events, those whose jobs depend on international travel and those in many other sectors. That is why the Taoiseach’s decision to start cutting the PUP by instalments of €50 from September is premature and deeply unfair It has always been understood that when the Government stops people from going back to their place of employment, for good public health reasons, it has a responsibility to support them. It seems now, however, that the Government has chosen to pull the rug from under the workers. I heard a woman on the radio last week who said she remained locked out of work despite the reopening. She described her experience and said that for the first six months of lockdown, her family availed of the mortgage break and that when that went, the family tapped into their savings. Now that money is gone too. How on earth is it fair to say to this woman or thousands of workers like her who will not be back at work in September and may not be allowed back until next year that their supports are going to be cut? The Taoiseach is walking away from his responsibility to these workers and their families. He will cut their income, in effect, by one third. That is absolutely huge. It is the difference between them just getting by for the next few months and not doing so. For the vast majority, the need for the PUP will fall away naturally as sectors reopen. That is what the evidence tells us but the Taoiseach’s decision to cut the PUP ensures those who remain locked out of work will be made poorer. They still have to pay their mortgages, rent, childcare fees and utility bills but they will be abandoned by the Government when they are at 2 1 June 2021 the end of their tether. What happened to “We are all in this together”, as was the slogan of the Government? The Taoiseach promised no cliff edge but cliff edges mean nothing to those who are relying on every single euro. To slash payments by €50 a go is devastating when workers are prevented from working. What the Taoiseach now proposes is a mirror of the plan he wanted to introduce in January but it was the wrong approach then and it is the wrong approach now. His approach to this matter sends out a signal that the recovery he envisages is one that is unfair and leaves people behind. Let us not go down that road again. I ask the Taoiseach not to press ahead with these cuts and to ensure that full support will remain in place for those workers who are prevented from going to work for as long as they are prevented from doing so. 01/06/2021B00100The Taoiseach: First of all, I agree with the Deputy in terms of the good news in recent weeks that people are returning to work in considerable numbers. We have been in a position to do this through our management of the pandemic and though a successful and efficiently run vaccination programme which is having a dramatic impact on the severity of illness in society from the virus and on reducing death and hospitalisation and numbers in intensive care The efficient national vaccination effort is enabling us to return to economic growth and recovery and to bring people back to work. What we announced today in terms of extending the schemes is a continuation of that eco- nomic recovery story. We have fulfilled our commitment in terms of not having a cliff edge. The employment wage subsidy scheme supports 315,000 workers. We are extending that to Christmas. The whole idea is to support enterprise and to enable enterprises that retain jobs to stay viable and keep jobs going in the economy. We are doing the same with the Covid-19 restrictions support scheme extension with en- hanced restart payments of three weeks at a double rate. This will be significant for people in hospitality, for example, and in other sectors. This significant restart grant really gives people a fighting chance not only in maintaining the employment they have maintained under the sup- ports they have got from Government but by increasing employment in the coming weeks. We know that more and more people will come off the pandemic unemployment payment during the summer months We are extending the pandemic unemployment payment out to September Then, gradually, we are easing out of that up to February 2022. We are not just doing that. All of that is in parallel with an unprecedented work activa- tion programme with substantial funding being allocated to reskilling training programmes, upskilling programmes, education places, increased apprenticeships and increased internship programmes. There will be more placements available in the public service for many people and investment in research to create a new approach and new orientations within the economy. We will use the funding we are receiving from the recovery and resilience fund in Europe not only to invest in the human capital side and in people but also to create new jobs in retrofitting