Roimh na ceisteanna, déanaim comhghairdeas leis an Aire Dlí agus Cirt, Teachta McEntee, agus lena fear céile, Paul. Mar is eol dúinn, rugadh mac di cúpla uair ó shin. Ar mo shon féin agus ar son na Dála, déanaim comhghairdeas leo. Go maire siad a nuaíocht agus a saol nua, mar is saol nua atá i gceist. Is lá stairiúil é mar níor tharla sé cheana gur rugadh leanbh d'Aire agus í i mbun oifige. Guím gach rath ar an Aire agus ar a clann. Rachaimid ar aghaidh anois leis na ceisteanna.

I want to take a moment to also offer my congratulations to the Minister, Deputy McEntee, and her husband on the wonderful news of the arrival of their baby boy this morning. As my grandmother used to say, a baby brings their own luck. I wish the Minister, her husband and their new baby all of the luck in the world. I remind the Tánaiste that the Minister herself said before she left that the measures put in place are a sticking plaster, so we have work to do, but this is a very good and historic day, as she is the first full Minister to give birth in office. We wish her all the very best.

Today, the Government will set out the plan for reopening in the coming months. This is a very positive day, and it is due to the dedication of the public and front-line health workers, who never wavered in the fight against this virus. The positivity of easing restrictions and reopening our economy also brings with it some worry for businesses and workers. I am very happy that tens of thousands of workers - many of whom have not seen a day's work for more than a year - will be able to return to their workplaces in the coming weeks and months. However, we know that public health advice means than many others will not be able to do so. I think about workers in aviation, tourism-dependent industries, travel agents and many people who will not be able to find work in their partially reopened industries. They will continue to be out of work through no fault of their own and those workers must be supported.

While the Government has continuously said there will be no cliff edge when it comes to income supports, it is unfair that it would not put some shape on what that means and give those words some meaning for the workers and business owners. The Taoiseach yesterday refused to give concrete assurance to workers and businesses who may be out of work beyond June due to Covid-19. The very least they deserve is certainty that the supports on which they depend will not be cut while public health restrictions remain in place. Workers and businesses in sectors that have not reopened, and may not reopen as quickly as others, need to know that they are not facing cuts or reductions of any sort come July. It is only fair that as long as people cannot go to work, or businesses cannot reopen due to public health advice, that those workers, businesses and families will retain the full support afforded to them. I urge the Tánaiste to set that out.

Businesses too need a lifeline. Chambers Ireland set out its view today. It said that businesses must be given certainty on how long wage supports, grant aid, waivers and debt warehousing will be available. So too have the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, ICTU, restaurateurs, vintners, retailers and many more. They are looking for as much certainty as can be given and I share their view. In respect of the wage subsidy scheme, I believe it is incumbent on the Government to articulate a firm commitment to maintaining support until such time as businesses are not only reopened, but properly established, up and running and fully trading.

Regarding the Covid restrictions support scheme, CRSS, many businesses that have been closed for months now fear that if they are allowed reopen and trade, their trade could bring them just over the threshold to qualify - but they would still be well out of pocket compared to what we refer to as normal times. They are looking for the qualification point for the CRSS to be flexible in light of this, and I urge the Tánaiste to support that. Sinn Féin supports the position. The simple fact of the matter is that easing the restrictions and getting business back up and running will not turn the clock back to March 2020. In the past 14 months, SMEs and family-run businesses have warehoused more than €1 billion worth of tax debt with Revenue, many have commercial rent arrears, and others have bank debt. These are all significant issues that require solutions. Unless they are addressed, many businesses will not survive and thousands of jobs could potentially be lost. We cannot allow that to happen. I ask the Tánaiste to set out that the pandemic unemployment payment, PUP, and the wage subsidy scheme will remain in place for the length of time that public health restrictions are in place. Will the qualifying restrictions for the CRSS be examined and will a flexible arrangement be agreed with Revenue regarding the continued warehousing of tax debt for SMEs?

I join with you, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle, by offering my sincere and heartfelt congratulations to Helen McEntee who delivered a baby boy last night, and to her husband, Paul Hickey. They have made history. This is the first time that a serving member of the Government in Ireland has given birth. When it comes to equality and diversity it is often said that people need to see it before they know they can be it. I hope that young women and girls will see today that in Ireland one can hold high office, take maternity leave, raise a family and be supported to do so. I accept we have more work to do in this area, but it is a positive day and history is being made today by the McEntee and Hickey family.

Regarding Covid, the process is as follows: yesterday the National Public Health Emergency Team, NPHET, met and issued a letter of advice to the Government. Last night, the Covid sub-committee met and we developed a proposal late last night that will be put to the Cabinet this afternoon. Should the Cabinet agree to that proposal, the Taoiseach will make a full announcement around 6 p.m. this evening. It is a day of hope for Ireland. All things going to plan, over the course of May, June and July most businesses will reopen. Hundreds of thousands of people currently on the pandemic unemployment payment will be able to return to work and we will see many of our personal freedoms restored. In May alone, we could see as many as 15,000 businesses reopen and as many as 200,000 people being offered their jobs back.

I join with Deputy O'Reilly in thanking the Irish people for their resilience, co-operation and adherence to the regulations and restrictions. I know it has not been easy but it has made a big difference and it has put us in a much better place than many of our peer countries. I especially want to thank the HSE and the staff of our public health service. One of the untold stories of this pandemic is how well the health service performed. The health service often gets a great deal bad press, sometimes deservedly, but it really stood up to the challenge. We never ran out of ICU capacity, beds, oxygen or ventilators. We are able to do same-day tests with next-day results for a virus that did not exist almost a year or so ago. We have seen an extraordinary performance from the health service in that regard, not least when it comes to vaccines. Once they get into the country, in 95% of cases they are administered to people within a week.

Keeping that up is going to be difficult but that is what we intend to do.

On financial supports, such as the pandemic unemployment payment, the wage subsidy scheme, the weekly CRSS payment and the rates holiday, I can confirm that they will remain in place until the end of June. By the end of May, we will set out a clear plan for people and businesses as to what will happen from July onwards. The Government fully appreciates that there are certain sectors that are going to need additional and ongoing financial support because of the difficulties they will face in reopening and recovering. These include the hospitality, tourism, aviation and events and arts sectors. The latter will need ongoing financial support for quite some time. We will set out a plan to do that before the end of May. The existing financial supports will stay in place as they are until at least the end of June.

When the restrictions are eased we will see a bounce in consumer spending. There is much pent-up demand and money in savings accounts. There will be a bounce but we need to make sure that it is not a dead cat bounce. The last thing we want to see is a boom in consumer spending that falls off in a few months' time when we are withdrawing the financial supports that people and businesses need. That would be a mistake. We need to get this right.

We need to be honest in this House. This is all borrowed money. It is not money that we generated ourselves through our labour or taxes. This is money that has been borrowed from banks and bondholders, with the help of the ECB. It will have to be refinanced, and we need to be honest about that.