I previously raised with the Taoiseach on Questions on Promised Legislation the issue of a worker on the front line, who has been at the coal face since March 2020, risking her health and well-being and those of her family. McCauley's pharmacy put that worker and many of her work colleagues on the temporary wage subsidy scheme, TWSS, without their knowledge. She and her colleagues received notice from Revenue early this year, stating she had a tax obligation from March to September 2020. That means she has effectively taken a pay cut of more than €2,000. Workers were told they owe anything from €1,000 to €2,500 tax liability, which is essentially an effective pay cut of up to three to five weeks' pay.

The temporary wage subsidy scheme was introduced to assist companies to keep their workers on the payroll throughout the pandemic and to keep companies open. The logic of the scheme was positive in terms of the initiative by the Government. The criteria for the TWSS were that it was for companies experiencing significant negative economic disruption and that were able to demonstrate to Revenue a minimum of a 25% decline in turnover, in which case the State would pay up to 70% to 85% of the workers' net wage, to a maximum of €410. Employer's PRSI was reduced from 11.5% to 0.5% and Revenue dropped tax liability on the workers' gross pay.

Many workers were receiving their net pay without realising that their employer was availing of the TWSS. I have been contacted by other workers employed by McCauley's pharmacy, as well as many other workers. One of those who contacted me works for a US multinational company with three plants in Ireland, while another works for a different US multinational manufacturing company which he states gained €15,000 by putting him on the scheme while he faces a €2,500 tax bill. He states that the unit in which he works posted profits of more than €1.5 million in 2020. The TWSS section of the Revenue website has an A to Z list of hundreds of companies that have applied for the scheme, which translates into thousands of workers, effectively. These workers are outraged. They are front-line workers who have been deemed essential workers and they are now being taxed on their net pay. This is wrong. Revenue has established on its website a facility for companies such as McCauley's pharmacy to pay their workers the tax liability yet this is not happening. I do not think the Government introduced the scheme in order for workers to receive an effective pay cut and employers to benefit from the scheme at their expense.

When I raised this issue with the Taoiseach previously, he advised me to send details of the worker's specific case to him even though I emphasised it was affecting the majority of workers in McCauley's pharmacy. I sent him those details. On 15 March, I received an email from the Department of the Taoiseach, stating that the case was being forwarded to the Department of Social Protection. It was then forwarded to the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe. The silence since then has been deafening. I am putting it to the Taoiseach that he should not allow these workers to take an effective pay cut. He should do the decent thing, instruct Revenue to change tack and instruct employers to pay the tax liability or, otherwise, scrap the tax.

First of all, the purpose and objective of the scheme was to preserve employment and the viability of companies. Without the scheme, a lot of jobs would have been lost and, more importantly, the capacity of companies to re-emerge after Covid, or as we emerge out of Covid, would have been impaired very considerably. Jobs would have been lost if these schemes were not put in place in the first instance. Significant sums of money have been provided by the State and the Government to provide for the EWSS, the TWSS and CRSS schemes as well as a range of other supports to ensure the viability of companies and firms. That is the number one point which benefits all employees and thousands of workers as well as the companies as entities themselves. This is not something that was introduced to disadvantage workers. I would argue that, in the round, it has not disadvantaged workers because in many cases it will secure their jobs into the future as we emerge from Covid. Our big concern at the outset was that many companies might not survive Covid. In the national economic recovery plan that we will be launching towards the middle of the year, part of the agenda there will be to protect and help companies and strengthen them.

In terms of the tax treatment, we do not interfere with Revenue but we are trying to facilitate workers and ensure that no one is hit with anything large overnight or in a cliff-edge situation. In terms of the issue raised by the Deputy, the tax situation applies in terms of one's income and the various thresholds that apply.

The Deputy said people "put" workers on the scheme. The whole thing was intended to protect the workers and their employment, as opposed to people being made redundant and perhaps falling back on the pandemic unemployment payment which I do not think was ideal. It has been challenging because the pandemic has now gone on for well over a year. Our overarching priority was to preserve employment, in the first instance, and then to see how we could help people in terms of the fall-out of Covid on their individual income levels and future employment needs. If certain companies and entities do not make it through, we must consider what we can do to create further employment opportunities. The resources that have been provided by the Government and taxpayers have been enormous, and on a scale never witnessed before in the history of the State.

I said in my introduction that the fact the scheme was introduced to protect workers' jobs and keep companies floats was positive. There was nothing wrong with the scheme. I do not think the Government introduced it in the knowledge that workers were going to have a pay cut effectively. The Taoiseach mentioned the Revenue Commissioners. Revenue was prepared to wipe off the tax revenue from a worker's gross pay. That was gone and companies were allowed to pay their workers the net income. That is now being taxed. It is outrageous.

It was reported in "Shopfloor", the Mandate trade union newspaper, that its members called on McCauley's to do the right thing over the Covid tax bills. I am asking the Taoiseach to instruct Revenue to change tact and tell these companies to pay their workers' tax liability through the facility on the website of the Revenue Commissioners. That is simply it. They have been given an option now. We know that other companies have paid those tax liabilities, including McCabe's pharmacy, KN Network Services and other companies. This has to be a case where a company is responsible for those liabilities. They have gained a huge amount and managed to keep their companies afloat. Some of them, in fact, may even be making profits. It is the responsibility of the Taoiseach to ensure that happens because otherwise these workers will, unfortunately, take strike action.

The TWSS is under the care and management of the Revenue Commissioners, who are independent of Government in the administration of the scheme. More than 644,000 jobs have been directly supported over the period and many more indirectly.

That is brilliant.

It is a sizeable and significant intervention. The value of payments made to date is approximately €2.9 billion under that scheme alone. The Deputy is making the case that Revenue will determine people's tax liabilities in respect of the income they receive.

And workers are suffering for it.

Revenue has made arrangements with employers in some instances where employers may have overestimated and drawn down too much initially and so forth. That is an issue that Revenue will have to continue to work on.

The Taoiseach's response was very weak.