Marian Harkin urges rent help for abuse victims, stronger mask advice
Marian Harkin pressed the Taoiseach on access to the emergency rent supplement for victims of domestic violence and on strengthening guidance and distribution of face coverings. She argued that being a victim should be sufficient to qualify for emergency rent support and called for enhanced advice, free masks and local distribution on public transport.
Emergency rent supplement access
Marian Harkin said Minister Daugherty is looking at amending referral pathways, but that change addresses only part of the problem. She argued that the means test – based on financial and employment status – excludes many victims and that being a victim of domestic violence should itself be sufficient criteria to access the emergency rent supplement.
Face coverings and public transport
Harkin returned to her request for stronger advice on face coverings, noting low take-up on public transport and in shops. She offered back-of-the-envelope calculations over a three-week period with an R number of one, suggesting even modest reductions from mask use could cut infections substantially, and she asked whether the Government would strengthen non-mandatory advice, send free masks to citizens, work with local groups and businesses to ramp up production, run a homemaking face-coverings awareness campaign and distribute masks on public transport.
Government response on rent and masks
The Taoiseach replied that the rent supplement is means tested and is not provided to those who can afford rent or mortgage costs, warning that extending it beyond financial need would be a large and costly policy change. On face coverings, the Taoiseach said new advice recommends wearing coverings on crowded public transport and in crowded indoor places like shops, that masks are not mandatory and are not a substitute for hand washing and social distancing, and that public health guidance should be led by the CMO and NPHET. A public awareness campaign on mask use, including how to make them, is already under way and will be stepped up.
Financial abuse and social welfare alternative
Harkin reiterated that financial abuse is often part of domestic violence and can leave victims unable to pay rent. The Taoiseach acknowledged financial abuse affects both men and women, mostly women, and suggested the urgent needs payment available under the Social Welfare Code as the likely solution for those immediate needs.
We publish thousands of recordings to make Irish politics transparent and resistant to manipulation. Spotted an error? Report it — together we are building a reliable archive of Irish politics.
Taoiseach, two issues. First of all, and I raised it with you before, victims of domestic violence accessing the emergency rent supplement, you said you'd look into it, and indeed Minister Daugherty yesterday in response to me said that she was looking at amending the referral pathways, and that's really important and it's good. But Taoiseach, that's only 50% of the problem. Part of the criteria for accessing this rent supplement, it would be your financial status, your employment status, and the truth is that domestic violence is as likely to happen in a wealthy home as in a poorer home, shall we say. So, being a victim of domestic violence itself should be a sufficient criteria to access this emergency rent supplement. So I would ask you please to make sure that you complete the second half of that. And thank you for the first part. Now, my second question brings me back again to face coverings. And we discussed this for the last two weeks, and I was pleased with your recommendations. However, the numbers wearing face coverings on public transport and in shops are really still very low. Now, I did a back of the envelope check. And if we take the three-week time between phase one and phase two, and we look at the R number as one, now I know it's less, but in that time, if wearing a face mask was to cut back the numbers infected by 10%, that would mean overall, at the end of three weeks, 50% less would be infected. And if the face mask didn't work well, and people didn't follow protocols, and it was only one in every five, it would still be 30% fewer infected. And even if it was one in 100 Taoiseach, it would still be 7% fewer infected. So as a suite of measures, as part of a suite, they are really important. So my question is, will you specifically strengthen your advice around face coverings? Not mandatory, but strengthen. Would you consider following the examples of other countries and sending out free face masks to citizens? Would you work with local groups, local businesses to ramp up the production of face coverings? Would you launch a public awareness campaign about homemaking face coverings? And finally, Taoiseach, would you consider giving them out on public transport? Many people want to wear them, but they might forget. So if you give them out on public transport, that might be part of the solution to increase capacity on public transport, which in two, three and four weeks' time will be a paramount issue. Thank you. Thanks very much, Deputy. Rent supplement is means tested. I think everyone in the House appreciates that. So rent supplement is not provided to people who can afford to pay their own rent or mortgage or even buy their own home. And I think if we were to extend rent supplement to any group who don't actually need it for financial reasons, that would be a big policy change and an expensive one. I'm not sure it would be the right course of action, notwithstanding the very difficult individual circumstances that people may find themselves in. In terms of the advice on face coverings, there is new advice on face coverings that the Deputy will be aware of. And the advice is that people should wear face coverings on crowded public transport and crowded indoor places like shops, but it's not mandatory. And it's also very strong advice that people not see it as a substitute for hand washing and social distancing and all those other actions. This is very much one of those things that I think is a public health issue. And while people are entitled to offer their opinions, including me and deputies, we have to be guided, I think, by the CMO and NPHET on something that is purely a matter of public health advice. And there is a public awareness campaign underway actually at the moment, advising people when to use masks, how to use them, how to make them and so on. That will be stepped up. Thank you. Thank you for just a few seconds that I left. You said it's means tested and it is. Taoiseach, you know as well as I do that a lot of domestic abuse is around financial abuse. And many of those who are abused are not in a situation to pay rent. So a solution needs to be found. And I would ask you please that you would work to try and find one. Taoiseach. Thanks, Deputy. You know, I absolutely acknowledge that financial abuse can be part of the abuse that people who suffer domestic violence face, both men and women, but mostly women. And I think the solution there is probably the urgent needs payment, which is available under the Social Welfare Code. Okay, go ahead.
Thank you for downloading 🙏
If you publish this material on social media, we would be very grateful if you tagged VideoParliament. It helps us reach more people and keep building a transparent archive of Irish politics.
