Tomorrow the Taoiseach will announce his plan for the gradual reopening of our society and economy. There is now some light at the end of the tunnel. As more vaccines come on stream, all of us hope that we can start to catch up with others and that more people will start getting back to work. For all of us, particularly for those who have not seen a day's work in over a year, a return to working life cannot come quickly enough. However, the reality as we meet today is that there are more than 400,000 workers relying on the pandemic unemployment payment, PUP, and a further 310,000 depending on the wage subsidy scheme. There are tens of thousands of workers who have not seen a day's work in over a year and many of them are wondering if they will return to work at all. There is still great uncertainty for workers, particularly in the sectors hardest hit by the pandemic. I refer to those who are prevented from going to work due to public health restrictions and for them, income supports have been absolutely vital in keeping their heads above water and just making it to the end of each week.

Yesterday, at a meeting of the Oireachtas Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach, the Taoiseach failed to give a concrete assurance that income supports will not be cut during this emergency. Indeed, speaking on RTÉ on Monday, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Michael McGrath, was equally unclear as to what those on income supports might face come the end of June. The Government's lack of clarity is causing great anxiety for those who have seen their incomes collapse through no fault of their own. They are already dealing with the stress of not knowing when they will be able to earn a living again, while also trying to keep their families safe during this pandemic. The pressure on them is immense and the least they deserve is certainty that the income supports on which they depend will not be pulled from under them.

The plan to reopen the economy, which the Taoiseach will announce tomorrow, must include an absolute assurance that while public health advice prevents workers from going to work and businesses from operating, income supports will continue. I very much hope that this will be for the short term. None of us wants this to go on forever. It cannot go on forever because people need to get back to work. Now is not the time for the Taoiseach or his Government colleagues to be floating ideas about cuts or the phasing out of supports. Workers still have rents, mortgages and bills to pay and food to put on the table and many have children to provide for. The PUP has been their lifeline and any decision to cut supports would be grossly unfair. In fact, it would be devastating for these families. These are families who watched on as the Taoiseach signed off on an obscene pay hike of €81,000 for the new Secretary General of the Department of Health and as he delivered pay hikes for super junior Ministers and judges and pension hikes for former Taoisigh. There cannot be one rule for those at top and another for those struggling to get by. That is exactly what happened following the previous crash but it cannot be repeated now.

We face immense challenges but they are not insurmountable. We can build a stronger, fairer Ireland but only if we have a fair recovery driven by investment, stimulus and, above all, a determination to protect the well-being of workers and families. That must start today. The Taoiseach is being cautious and careful with the reopening. I ask him to be equally cautious and careful with these families and to clarify that the supports they rely on will not be cut or phased out as long as there is a public health emergency.

The virus, Covid-19, has wreaked havoc and caused a lot of damage in many sectors of the economy, creating a lot of unemployment as a result. It is not the public health restrictions per se that have done that, but the virus. The public health restrictions are there to protect people and society from the virus. That is the context. As a result of the virus and Covid-19, the Government has introduced unprecedented interventions to support incomes and jobs and to keep as many businesses viable as possible so that when we emerge from Covid, those businesses can restart and reboot, maintain jobs and create further jobs into the future in the context of a national recovery. To date, approximately €28 billion has been provided for Covid-related spending programmes, almost half of which was on the PUP and wage subsidy schemes. That is in addition to core programmes, including in the areas of enterprise and the labour market, and a range of other supports that were provided.

The Government has been very clear, proactive and ahead of the situation in clarifying some time ago that it would retain all supports until the end of June. We said there would be no cliff edge in terms of the withdrawal of supports. We have been very clear about that.

The Government strategy for getting the virus case numbers, hospitalisation levels and intensive care admissions down has worked. The people of Ireland have made it work by adhering to the guidelines and regulations. The vast majority have done so and, as a result, we are in a much better position than anticipated or modelled, which is good. Obviously, we are dealing with a variant that is particularly transmissible but, that said, what we said at the end of March we would do in April has been done. We have secured the reopening of schools and childcare facilities. Residential construction has resumed, as has outdoor sports training for under 18s as well as tennis, golf and a number of other areas. We have delivered what we said we would deliver. We also said we would examine a whole range of areas for the month of May.

The important economic point to make is that as sectors reopen and people return to work, there will be a natural reduction in the number of people availing of pandemic supports. The macroeconomic advice from the International Monetary Fund, IMF, and the European Central Bank, ECB, is to maintain the approach we have adopted so far of underpinning income and business supports so that we can recover from the devastating impact of this pandemic on the economy and people's livelihoods. Many sectors are suffering and have endured a lot. Retail, hospitality, tourism, travel and aviation have suffered globally and at a European level as well as in Ireland. The Government has a range of initiatives under way, including the national economic recovery plan, which will be designed to calibrate supports to help businesses to restart and reboot, the national development plan, the submission we will make for funding under the European recovery and resilience facility and the Brexit adjustment reserve.

I do not want to play a game of semantics with the Taoiseach at this point but the reality is that sectors of the economy have been closed down because the public health advice has been that it is not safe to go to work.

All of us want the economy to reopen speedily and safely. I was not putting a question to the Taoiseach in respect of the natural reduction that will accrue as people return to work and businesses reopen. I am asking for a simple statement of assurance for those workers in sectors that have not reopened, and that may not reopen in such a speedy fashion, that they will not face cuts or reductions of any sort come July.

We are coming into the month of May at the weekend. In a spirit of fairness for workers and their families, it is only fair that they have clarity that for as long as they cannot go to work and certain businesses cannot reopen. On foot of the public health emergency and in line with public health advice, those workers, businesses and families should retain the full level of support that has been afforded to them. I simply want clarity and a full statement on that point today.

To be fair, the Government has acted in an unprecedented way in intervening in the economy to support incomes, particularly through the pandemic unemployment payment. Some €7.3 billion has been paid out to date. We have made it very clear that there will be no cliff edge fall-off in the context of the supports. We stated, well in advance, that supports will continue until the end of June. We are making progress in reopening society and the economy. That is important in order to get things moving again. We must then look at how we can help sectors that have suffered more than others to restart, create employment and get people working again. It will be a key objective of Government to get people working again. Our approach all along has been to support people through income supports and to support enterprises through wage subsidy schemes and other programmes designed to keep businesses intact.