Senator John McGahon - speech from 1 Dec 2020
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.
Other speeches
Tego samego dnia All speeches from this day →
Bríd Smith
Bríd Smith: Accuses KPMG of Breaching Debenhams Mediation Trust
Matt Shanahan
Matt Shanahan Urges Support for Horse and Greyhound Industries
Mattie McGrath
Mattie McGrath: Blasts Impeachment Motion as 'Grandstanding'
Mary Lou McDonald
Deputy Mary Lou McDonald - speech from 1 Dec 2020
Bríd Smith
Bríd Smith urges visit to Crumlin ASD unit
Rose Conway-Walsh
Rose Conway-Walsh calls for review of school cleaners' pension rights
Transcript
Thank you very much, Gerlach. I suppose, Leader, today what I want to discuss is actually something that you would have a lot of previous experience about in your own, in your former department when you were there as Minister, and it's in relation to the Christmas bonus, but more importantly it's in relation to the Christmas bonus and how it's not paid to people who are on maternity leave. So, for example, and what I would really love to see for next year is to see that people who are out on maternity leave at the Christmas time are eligible to apply for the Christmas bonus scheme, or are eligible to get the Christmas bonus. First of all, in terms of Christmas bonus, and we saw Minister Humphreys talk about it last week, which is incredible, she's really encouraging people to spend it locally. So, this is money that goes back into the local economy in the first instance. I think that's really important. Second of all, people who go out on maternity leave, you know, they've paid their taxes, their working jobs, they've contributed to the economy, they're going to contribute to the economy once they come back off maternity leave as well. The third thing about it is, it's not actually going to go to everyone who's on maternity leave. It's only going to go to people who are on maternity leave at the Christmas period. So, if you're not on maternity leave throughout the rest of the year, you know, it's not going to be paid to you. The final thing about it is, when I was looking at it on the website this morning, there's, apologies, you know, there's over 30 different groups of people who avail of the Christmas bonus in the first place. So, whether that's state pension, invalidity pension, back-to-work enterprise allowance, supplementary welfare allowance, you know, there's 30 different groups of people who are availing of it. I think it's really important that we count people who are on maternity benefit into that as well. I know it's too late to do it this year, and I would really appreciate if we could have a discussion or a debate about it, to have it put on the agenda for Christmas 2021. Thank you, Senator. I see.