We face a grim and depressing fact that while we might have hoped, when the Dáil broke up, that the situation with Covid-19 would incrementally improve, those hopes have been dashed and we are facing an ongoing battle with Covid-19 for the foreseeable future. That means the economic and employment impacts on vast numbers of workers, who have had their income and employment stolen by the pandemic and by necessary public health restrictions, leave them facing a precarious future. Given that, I believe it is no longer, if it was ever, justifiable for the Government to go ahead with the plan to cut the pandemic unemployment payment on 17 September for 264,000 workers who do not want to be unemployed but who lost their jobs and incomes because of compliance with public health measures and when many of those workers would like to go back to work but cannot because of measures that are out of their control and because of the fight of Covid-19.

It is nothing short of punishing the worst economic victims of the Covid-19 crisis for the Government to go ahead with a plan to cut their pandemic unemployment payments on 17 September. I am appealing to the Taoiseach not to do it. It is not justified. It is not fair. Those workers, who cannot return to work or, if they do, will only be able to earn a tiny fraction of what they previously would have been able to earn because of public health restrictions, should not be punished. They have contributed just as much as everyone else in the public health effort, but they, unfortunately, are not able to return to work or full income-earning capacity.

The taxi drivers decided last night that they have to protest on 15 September - there will be a drive-by protest - because they are faced with a dilemma between the devil and the deep blue sea. They either stay on the pandemic payment that the Government is going to cut or they go back to work, where they can only earn a tiny fraction of what they previously earned through no fault of their own. Music, arts and entertainment workers face their payments being cut even though there is no work or virtually no work for them to return to. It is not fair. Regarding the Debenhams workers, who will be marching here this evening and who lost their jobs as a result of a cynical company using Covid-19 as an excuse to throw them on the scrapheap, how is it fair to cut their income when they would like to be at work but they cannot go back to work, or if they do go back to work, they will not be able to earn a viable living that will allow them to pay their bills, mortgages and rents? It is not justifiable. It is not fair.

I am asking the Taoiseach, ahead of 17 September, not to do that to people, not to impose further hardship when all of us are facing into a very difficult period with Covid-19. Are we still all in it together? If we are, the Taoiseach cannot justify cutting the PUP on 17 September.

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. The Government is not about punishing anyone and has not been from the outset of the pandemic. The key responses in terms of the pandemic unemployment payment and the wage subsidy scheme have, as I have said before, been unprecedented and significant and have supported a significant number of people. This week approximately €17.2 million will be paid out to approximately 225,000 people in respect of the pandemic unemployment payment.

That is a decrease of about 5,500. We now have about 225,000 on the pandemic unemployment payment, which is an overall drop of 62% on the figure in May last, which was close to 600,000. From 17 September, as the Deputy correctly says, the rates are changing and coming down, although they are very closely related to what people were earning before they went on the pandemic unemployment payment itself. What we have done, critically, is to extend it right to April of next year and to put it on a more sustainable footing, unlike other jurisdictions, where it is being cut from next October, or is finished from next October onwards.

Given the fact it is plateauing around 225,000, or may come down further to 200,000, we will reflect on and review all that because we want to support people and help people get through this pandemic, and to provide safety nets for them. Therefore, the Government constantly and consistently monitors both of those schemes - the wage subsidy scheme and the pandemic unemployment scheme. Overall, about €3.3 billion has been spent on the pandemic unemployment payment to date, which reflects the Government's commitment to supporting people who have been very badly affected by the pandemic. In respect of certain sectors, and in respect of Ministers with responsibility for arts, culture, tourism and so on, we are consistently looking at ways in which we can provide alternative income streams or employment opportunities for people in those particular sectors. I mentioned earlier the July stimulus, for example, and we have to work further on that to make sure we can translate elements of that funding into real working opportunities for people, and also add value to society and the economy in terms of projects we can get done, such as badly needed projects in housing, health, education and community and town centre renewal, for example. That is where I would like to see our continued support for people manifested as well. We are keeping the situation under review.

The Government has not extended the pandemic unemployment payment to April because it is going to cut it to the level that effectively makes it the same as the jobseeker’s allowance. It is cutting the income support payment for people who would like to return to work. The fact the numbers on the PUP have steadily come down in line with the restrictions affecting their particular sectors of the economy or industry shows that people who are on the PUP do not want to be unemployed. They are unemployed because of public health restrictions impacting on their particular sectors, robbing them of their ability to work at all or to earn a viable income. It is not fair to pull the rug from under their feet. It amounts to effective punishment of people who would like to return to work but cannot, or if they do return, will plunge themselves into poverty because they can only earn a fraction of what they previously earned. Taxi drivers on the road are earning 70% to 80% less than they were earning pre-pandemic. It is not fair to punish them. They need support.

Thank you, Deputy.

For arts, music and other entertainment performers, there is nothing or only tiny amounts out there for them. We need support, not cuts in the income supports for them or for the Debenhams workers who are coming here tonight and who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own.

I ask the Deputy to conclude, please.

These people do not need to be punished on 17 September; they need support. Do not cut their income supports, please.

The whole thrust of Government policy is not to punish; it is to support. Any objective analysis of Government interventions to date would have to accept that was the case. The level of State intervention is unprecedented, and rightly so, because it is an unprecedented global pandemic.

Both schemes are being extended to April - that is the fact. The Deputy is talking about the rates. From 17 September, the PUP will be paid at three rates: people who previously earned more than €300 per week will receive €300 per week; if they earned between €200 per week and €300 per week, they will receive €250; and if they earned less than €200, they will receive €203. That is what was stated back in July and it will continue for a much longer period than originally envisaged.

We are not pulling the rug from under anybody with the changed rates. Also, in terms of different sectors of the economy, we have intervened and responded. This is unprecedented action in many respects, where the Ministers for Public Expenditure and Reform, Finance and Business, Enterprise and Innovation have to come together to devise schemes to support various sectors of the economy which through no fault of their own cannot get back up and running. We are aware of the issues facing the performing arts in terms of audiences not being available physically. We have to do everything we can to support that sector and the individuals working in it. That is our desire and our objective.

The Deputy spoke to me previously about taxi drivers. Those are areas that we are continuing to analyse. I know that the Tánaiste is doing so in respect of a range of individuals who may not be rateable, for example, in different self-employments. They pose challenges in terms of how one responds to the more complex issues arising for enterprises and so on.

We are over time. I ask the Taoiseach to conclude.

We will continue to work on those issues. I take the sincerity of the Deputy's comments in regard to Debenhams, the workers of which we are continuing to engage with.