Last week, the Government effectively shut down the late-night economy. Four weeks from Christmas, thousands of workers and businesses are now prevented from earning the money that pays their bills, yet at its meeting yesterday the Cabinet economic sub-committee did not even consider restoring the pandemic unemployment payment, PUP.

How does the Taoiseach expect these workers to make ends meet? Businesses also face great uncertainty as cuts to the employment wage subsidy scheme, EWSS, are scheduled to kick in from the start of December. I ask the Taoiseach to put a stop to those cuts. I remind him that removing or reducing any supports leaves workers and businesses in a most difficult and, in some case, impossible position. The Taoiseach needs to reinstate the PUP for workers who need it and the full EWSS must be kept in place until the end of this year, at the very least.

It is worth bearing in mind that the total economic supports provided by the Government to date are in excess of €20 billion. This does not include in excess of €2.8 billion in tax debt warehousing or the €1.5 billion in loans supported through Government schemes, such as the credit guarantee scheme. The employment wage subsidy scheme has, to date, granted payments of more than €5.5 billion and PRSI credit of almost €865 million to 51,760 employers in respect of more than 687,600 workers. To date, €704 million in total has been paid under the Covid restrictions support scheme, CRSS, in respect of 25,500 premises. The total cost of the pandemic unemployment payment is approximately €9 billion. The Government has consistently provided supports to employment and workers throughout the pandemic and will continue to do so.