I extend my solidarity and good wishes to the two members of An Garda Síochána who were shot and injured in the course of their duties last night in Whitechapel in Blanchardstown here in Dublin. We are very conscious of the fact that members of the Garda put themselves in harm's way day in and day out to keep our communities safe. We express our appreciation for this and extend our solidarity to the two gardaí in question and to the community in Blanchardstown for which this is also a very violent ordeal.

On Friday, the Taoiseach will make his announcement on the next phase of the reopening of our society and our economy. There is no doubt there is a feeling of hope and optimism as we look forward to getting back to some kind of normality. People want to get back to work and businesses want to reopen. As we head towards Friday, there are still 300,000 workers relying on the pandemic unemployment payment and a further 300,000 still depend on the wage subsidy scheme. As the Taoiseach is aware, many of these people have not seen a day’s work in more than a year. Despite the reopening, they are not sure when they will get back to work. They depend on these income supports to pay the bills, pay rent, provide for their children and put food on the table.

The Taoiseach had planned to cut these supports from January but the onset of the third wave forced him to change his mind. In April, he resurrected his intention to introduce cuts from the end of June, even though thousands of workers and businesses will still be prevented from earning. As the Taoiseach is aware, the sectors affected include aviation, arts and entertainment, restaurants and pubs that do not have outdoor areas, as well as aspects of the tourism sector that cater for international visitors. In addition to the pandemic unemployment payment and the wage subsidy scheme, those receiving the short-time work support are also in a situation where their eligibility is coming to an end but they will not be back in full employment.

For weeks, these workers have had a cloud of uncertainty hanging over them. The Minister, Deputy Humphreys, said the Government would give clarity regarding the future of these payments by the end of May. It is 26 May but these workers still do not know what they will face come the end of June. It is unfair to leave them with this level of stress and anxiety. Everybody wants to get back to work as soon as it is possible and safe. These workers are not looking for big bonuses or the massive pay hikes that others have seen during the crisis. They simply want fairness and an assurance from their Government that the rug will not be pulled from under them while they are still going through very difficult times.

It is not good enough simply to say that there will not be a cliff edge. These workers need to know they will not face any cut. We have consistently said to the Taoiseach that so long as we have a public health emergency that prevents people from going to work or reopening their businesses they need to be supported, and I am sure the Taoiseach agrees with this. Everyone wants to get back to work but the reality is that we will still face restrictions for some time and, let us say it out loud, we are still unclear and cannot be certain about new variants in the future. It is clear that income supports should continue until the autumn at least. This makes sense.

Thank you, Deputy.

Workers and businesses have lost incomes. In his announcement on Friday, will the Taoiseach tell those in receipt of the pandemic unemployment payment and the wage subsidy scheme-----

The time is up, Deputy.

-----that their payments will not be cut at the end of June?

I welcome the Deputy's acknowledgement that progress is being made on dealing with the Covid crisis and that the plan is working in terms of the steady cautious reopening of society as the vaccination programme successfully rolls out with great momentum. A total of 96% of the supply that comes in is being administered within a week by the HSE. People have commented on the efficiency of the vaccination programme and how effective it is. We have been very clear consistently in our interventions since the commencement of the pandemic. Throughout last summer and the first six months of this year, the State and Government intervention has been unprecedented in supporting incomes and in supporting businesses and enterprises. The entire rationale for this has been to protect as many jobs as we possibly can and to protect incomes above what they would otherwise have been given the impact of the virus on so many industries.

Without question, the impact has been most significant on the hospitality sector, the aviation sector, the arts and entertainment sectors and a number of other sectors that are related to these areas, such as taxi drivers. We have always amended our schemes with a view to trying to get more and more sectors covered by the supports. The next phase will be how we re-engineer, and facilitate the rebooting of, these sectors of the economy over the coming six months.

The national economic recovery plan will be the framework within which we identify the growth areas for the future and how we assist economic recovery as we reopen society in an effective way. We have said there will be no cliff edge in terms of the reduction of supports and this remains the position. The Cabinet subcommittee on economic recovery will continue to meet to finalise and fine-tune the national economic recovery plan. We are very conscious of the significant difficulties in aviation for the workers in that sector, including pilots, cabin crew, ground handling staff and throughout the sector. They have been out of work for a long time because of Covid-19, particularly because of the third wave. There are also the related hospitality and tourism industries. There will be good news in June for the hospitality sector, as hotels, bed and breakfast accommodation and guest houses will come back on 2 June and outdoor dining and drinking will return on 7 June. This is very positive. We will be in a position on Friday to clarify what is possible for June and July in all of these sectors, particularly aviation, hospitality, the arts and sport.

Last evening, two gardaí were shot and wounded. As I said in my statement last evening, it illustrates once again the extraordinary commitment and contribution of An Garda Síochána to the public well-being and the public interest. Last night's incident illustrates that around every corner as the gardaí go about their duty one never knows what can befall them. I wish the two gardaí a speedy recovery and thank An Garda Síochána for its consistent support of the public interest and of our citizens as they go about their daily duties.

I am sure the House joins with the Taoiseach and Deputy McDonald in these good wishes.

I certainly reiterate the sentiments in respect of the gardaí.

There have been, not just here but internationally, what the Taoiseach describes correctly as unprecedented interventions to support people in a context of an unprecedented, at least in our lifetimes, public health emergency and social emergency.

What I am asking from the Taoiseach is not to reiterate the no "cliff edge" position. I want the Taoiseach to tell hundreds of thousands of people who are still relying on the pandemic unemployment payment, the wage subsidy scheme and the short-term work support that they will not experience a cut. I make that request to the Taoiseach in the full knowledge that workers want to get back to work and we want to get them there. We want to get business reopened and we want to do it safely. We know we will not have a complete reopening of society and the economy in each sector overnight. For those workers, can the Taoiseach assure them that there will be no cut and can he further assure them that the supports they rely on will be extended to the autumn at least?

As I said, the Cabinet sub-committee on economic recovery will be meeting in the next number of days to discuss the national economic recovery plan. Part of that plan will focus on the digital transformation and jobs in the new green economy. It will also be focusing in on the medium-term framework for particular sectors that have suffered more than most as a result of the pandemic and factors relating to it. That means evolving the supports towards the second half of the year and a proper targeting of those supports to facilitate growth because we want to facilitate people to get back to work in the different sectors as safely and as securely as we possibly can.

If one thinks of what has happened over the past number of months, construction has come back. Retail now has come back. Our schools are reopened for quite some time and our childcare has reopened. This plan is working and we have managed to keep the pressure on the virus whilst rolling out the vaccination programme. That is our intention and we are mindful of protecting people and businesses and jobs to the optimal degree that we possibly can as a Government.