Mattie McGrath condemns neglect of Defence Forces, urges PPE

Go rae maher goethe, go rae maher goethe, go hae maher goethe indeed, I too am thankful to the Minister for the help given us, indeed the Taoiseach has been in charge of Defence Forces and the briefings he's given us, I suppose our first thoughts today must be with our officers serving abroad, serving in different parts of the world, in a noble cause of peacekeeping duties, unable to get home or the prospects of getting home will be greatly diminished, many of them due to come home in the near future to their families and loved ones and they have the added worry of worrying about themselves and worrying about the family at home and the families at home worrying about themselves and Minister, it's a pity that it took something like this to have you and indeed want to be critical of the overall scheme to recognise and indeed to rightly recognise the prowess and the honour and the prestige that Haran may have had over the decades, excepting all over the world but above all at home and to have it and such a depleted state at this point in time is shameful, shameful for this government and the previous governments and they were treated literally with disdain and they pleaded and begged us, they couldn't protest as you know but they did appeal and appeal and appeal and appeal and because of that and to see some of our naval ships taken off in recent times because of lack of personnel, of threats to our air corps and threats to even our air and rescue recovery helicopters because of a fleeing of pilots and highly trained personnel, I think that was shameful, it is good now to see the neighbourhood ships being used as test centres and hopefully treatment centres and indeed it's excellent to have the civil defence and all the volunteers and I mention civil defence every time I speak because they are just unbelievable in what they do on a daily basis, on a weekly basis when they're called on and called on very often as we know, it's great to see that a farmer and soldiers even had many of them having the bad taste, having the bad recognition, having the bad wages, having the bad lack of recognition by the government of their roles that now they are interested in returning and it will be good when you get it up on military.ie but what is the delay getting it up for people that want to return minister, we're a couple of weeks into the crisis now and you told us an hour ago, if I'm rightly so that, or 40 minutes ago that it would be up by the weekend, the neighbours of the RDF and reserve, the FCA as well. the FCA as I knew them had a very proud record and the name changed but it didn't give them any better conditions, but I want to salute them as well because they have given no many of the officers and many of them have gone to eternal reward and the training that that afforded to young people as well, young men and women over the decades that wanted to enlist in the FCA and get fabulous training in first of all service of the country, and have a sense of pride but also physical training and indeed the training of firearms and training of of many many areas of rescue and indeed in support of role for our gallery corner they were a brilliant um organization all over the all over the years and indeed i remember some colleagues of mine of school friends of mine who went in there as young men and stayed there until they were forced to retire at their retirement age from the army the army cadets and the recruits and indeed the apprenticeships they must be um they must be um renumerated can't expect them to be brought in and have been been paid a pittance to do the work they want to do the work that's why they joined up they are willing and ready and able to do it but they must be rewarded financially to some extent especially they just can't be the bottom rung on the ladder and be expected to do it and get don't get the support so that's very important because we need to be able to after this crisis passes and i believe it will pass with the support of the people and we're all in together and we must ensure that the army gets its rightful treatment and no disrespect to you minister um yourself but i believe that there should be a full minister as used to be in the past for defense because our defense uh forces are very important there must also be supplied with the ppe equipment they can't be expected to be short on that either because as i said they will be in many many different situations and aspects of it and hopefully with us working together we won't see the scenes that we have seen in in in spain and in italy with the army trucks carrying away the coffins uh to be committed that would be unthinkable and so we have some time here on hand but that is why minister i i want to ask you why is the lane putting up the army the information on army.ie for people who want to go back so as i said um we our thoughts and prayers are with our soldiers facing this with another frontline officer but they are with our officers that are abroad serving the united nations in different parts of the world gore magus thank you um gore magus um and uh first of all uh i want to uh thank all the deputies who have contributed to the debate today and uh i i would ask for your indulgence please as there have been a lot of issues raised and i will try to respond to as many as i can uh but for those for those that i don't address there will be an opportunity for the relevant ministers to discuss them at a committee stage just in terms of um money lending which i know was raised earlier today i share the concerns already expressed about increased reliance on money lending during the crisis and i would strongly encourage people to consider their local credit union and to approach mavs if they find themselves in financial difficulty i'd also point out that the central bank's code of conduct for licensed money lenders prohibits unsolicited contact or cold calling except in certain limited circumstances and to use a a a familiar phrase my advice say to people is to keep the wolves from the door and go to your local credit union whom you know that you can trust regarding insurance issues in relation to business interruption insurance um and regarding a claim in relation to loss loss of earnings because of closure due to covet 19 it will depend on the specifics of their policy however as a general rule i believe that insurers should not attempt to reject claims on the basis of interpreting policies to their own advantage i believe that where businesses have had to close on the basis of advice or a direction to close by the government and their insurance policy covers such a scenario that insurers should engage with those businesses honestly fairly and professionally to honor those elements of the policies covered where a policy states that a claim can be made when a business has closed as a result of a government direction because of a general notifiable infectious disease i believe that government advice to close a business amounts to the same thing i believe that insurers should not try to distinguish between these situations where there is a general infectious disease provision in a policy in order to avoid payment of claims in this regard i believe the government's direction to child care providers and its advice to the public health care providers and the public health care providers and the public health care is sufficient for those businesses to be able to make a claim on their insurance where the appropriate business interruption cover is in place the central bank has issued a questionnaire to the main providers of business interruption insurance in ireland firms were required to provide the number of policies the aggregate sums insured for business interruption and the potential level of cover for covet 19 related claims the bank is currently analyzing the returns and will update department of finance officials as soon as they can and i also understand that the central bank is to write to the insurance industry setting out how it expects insurance firms to handle the settlement of claims arising from the covet 19 pandemic the regulator's view is that firms must ensure that all claims are appropriately assessed and where there is insurance cover in place that claims are accepted and paid in relation to the social protection measures i know some deputies queried whether the covet pandemic a unemployment payment which is known as covet pup should be payable to the people returning from canada australia and other countries the covet pup is deliberately targeted at people who have been living and working in ireland at the time the pandemic struck it is directed at people who lost all employment and who are living here people returning to ireland who cannot find work should apply for job seekers payment and the habitual residency conditionality will continue to apply as appropriate there was also a number of queries in relation to people who work part-time or casually and who are now employed because of covet 19 i want to confirm that those workers will be entitled to the covet emergency payment likewise if you are self-employed you are also entitled to it other deputies raise points regarding eligibility if you are already in receipt of a social welfare payment and just to be clear on this if you are working and we're also in receipt of social welfare payments such as carers payment working family payment or one parent family payment or the rural social scheme you can provided you have lost your job due to covet 19 also claim the covet 19 emergency payment in addition to retaining your existing welfare payment the covet 19 um unemployment payment will replace your employment income and will be regarded by the department as equivalent to employment income and i know a number of queries were also raised in relation to people who have already applied for or who are already in receipt of the 203 rate of impa of payment and just to be clear if you have already applied before the 24th of march or are already in receipt of the pandemic unemployment payment you do not need to do anything your next payment will be paid at the increased rate um just to say this is a solidarity payment and if people are defrauding uh uh your fellow citizens by claiming dishonestly the full force of the law will be applied and uh desp it will investigate a potential fraud situations as as they come to their attention and a number of deputies have also read the raised the issue of frontier workers and that's something i'm very familiar with obviously coming or living in in county monaghan where you have people uh working in in in in the south of the border and living in northern ireland and just to say that we are looking at that situation uh currently and i just also uh there's a number of other issues that were raised but i'd be happy to discuss any further aspects uh on the social protection measures uh later and just in terms of housing i know many deputies have spoken on the housing measures in the bill and i think it's important to say that this is an emergency bill to cover a period of a an extraordinary national emergency and the bill is not intended as a means to introduce new legislation to address wider issues across the housing sector such measures could prove counterproductive and could after the emergency is over lead to a decline in the availability of particular forms of accommodation the government is acutely conscious of the financial pressures on renters and actions taken to date will ensure that people will remain living in their homes for the duration of the covet 19 emergency the government would urge landlords and tenants to work together to ensure the best solutions during this emergency are found the government is also very conscious of the need to protect vulnerable people and the local authority sector is working with the department of housing to secure additional accommodation including across our homeless services and minister damian english will discuss these and other aspects in relation to the housing section of the bill in further detail at a committee stage later on so just to say it is hard to believe that just a few short weeks ago ireland was at full in climate with record numbers at work practically overnight the economic and employment landscape in our country has been utterly transformed by covert 19 we are in a crisis that is unprecedented in the history of the state first and foremost the government is focused on responding to the public health emergency that we face and that is our overriding priority but we are also acutely aware of the huge economic challenges that ireland is now facing and i know that this is an extremely worrying and distressing time for the many businesses who have had to close their doors and the thousands of workers who have lost their jobs these are difficult days but covet 19 will not last forever it will end and we must be ready when it does and that is why through the wage subsidy scheme we want to ensure that businesses are able to keep their employees on the books so that when we come out the other side of this ireland and our citizens can get back to work as quickly as possible by maintaining that crucial link between the employer and the employee we will be best placed to kick start the economy once again essentially through this scheme the government is entering into an economic partnership with businesses and employers nationwide so that we can support them and their staff through this unprecedented crisis so i would encourage those employers who may have let staff go last week to look now at this scheme and consider where possible taking those staff back on and availing of the supports available at the end of the day businesses will want to keep their good dedicated loyal staff and have them ready to go once this crisis has passed and i know a number of deputies have raised issues regarding supports for businesses so i'm just going to go through them very briefly the 200 million euro working capital loan scheme which is open for applications on the sbi sbci website and there's loans of up to a half a million they can be unsecured and businesses can opt to repay interest only at the start of the loan loans of up to 50 000 euros through microfinance ireland with no interest or repayments for the first six months so that can be used as a liquidity instrument to deal with cash flow problems with no interest charge for six months and we will continue to review this as necessary so what you really have there is six months free credit and you can apply through the local enterprise office the credit guarantee scheme with loans of up to one million is available including the option of refinancing existing loans the local enterprise offices in every single county are offering vouchers from two and a half thousand to ten thousand euros to support businesses uh be prepared commercial rates can be deferred for three months the banks have signed up to a number of measures to support businesses with loan and mortgage forbearance for three months and minister donoghue has also announced a number of measures through revenue to help smes experiencing cash flow problems and we have also extended the deadline for companies to file their annual returns with the company's registration office until the end of june all of these measures will come at a huge cost but we hope that by acting now that will mean that in the long run we will have less people falling into unemployment so that our economy can recover as quickly as possible as i see it there are three stages that businesses will need to be supported through this crisis the initial shock stabilization and when the public health emergency emergency has passed to re the reboot phase when you see a report from the ersi or sorry esri this morning which predicts that unemployment could reach 18 percent that tells you why at this point our focus must be on stabilization and protecting key sectors of the economy and my officials are engaging with the department of finance and with the european commission and i can assure deputies that there will be further supports forthcoming what i want to ensure is that we have the right support for businesses at the right time in terms of the supply chain i've been in constant contact with the retail and grocery distribution sector who continue to assure me that we have strong a pipeline of products for our citizens and i really want to thank once again the countless retail staff who are working around the clock to ensure that our supermarket shelves remain full during this difficult period i want to thank the many people working behind the scenes to make that possible the farmers the producers the hauliers the palleting the logistics companies the people who work in the ports the ferry companies as well as staff in the pharma the medtech sectors and indeed many more these are frontline staff for putting their shoulder to the wheel and contributing to the national um to the national effort and just to say that all of these schemes may not be perfect um care look but and there will be flaws and but that's what happens when legislation is drawn up in the space of a few days as opposed to over the course of many months as would normally happen but as michael ryan from the world health organization said recently when you're in a crisis speed trumps perfection what the government is doing here is a genuine attempt uh to support all of our businesses and citizens and ensure that they get the right support and i do want to acknowledge uh care look then the support and the cooperation of all sides of the oireachtas at this time this is a collective national effort and i want to thank you all for for that gore meal michael and thank you minister you