Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 June 2020
45. Deputy Joan Collins asked the Minister for Finance if it will be ensured that workers who have no access to childcare and cannot get back to work, that the temporary wage subsidy scheme will be mandatory for those workers and the employer must use the scheme pending the return and reopening of childcare, crèches and so on. [11051/20]
View answerMeasures to support the provision of childcare are primarily a matter for the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs.
The TWSS is an emergency measure to deal with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the economy. Of necessity, the underlying legislation and the scheme itself have been developed very quickly, having regard to the objective of getting much needed assistance to employers and employees, where businesses have been seriously affected by the pandemic and the necessary restrictions introduced to fight the spread of the Covid-19 virus.
The core principles of the scheme are that the business is suffering significant negative economic impact due to the Covid-19 pandemic, that the employees were on the payroll at 29 February 2020 and that the employer had fulfilled its PAYE reporting obligations for February 2020 before 1 April 2020. The scheme is predicated on the employer wanting to keep the employees on the payroll and to retain them until business picks up. The TWSS cannot be tailored to meet every individual set of circumstances for either employers or employees.
