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Covid-19 Pandemic Supports

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 June 2020

Tuesday, 23 June 2020

Questions (52)

Marc MacSharry

Question:

52. Deputy Marc MacSharry asked the Minister for Finance if the provision of the temporary wage subsidy scheme will be extended to seasonal workers in the tourism sector who were not on the payroll in January and February 2020 due to commence employment in March and April similar to other years; if the level of wage subsidy payable to workers who worked weekends in January and February 2020 in cases in which the business was forced to close due to Covid-19 restrictions (details supplied) will be reviewed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11918/20]

View answer

Written answers

The Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS) is provided for in section 28 of the Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Covid-19) Act 2020.

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 were developed really quickly, having regard to the urgent Government objective of getting much needed financial 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. It cannot be tailored to meet every individual set of circumstances for either employers or employees.

The TWSS necessarily builds on data returned to Revenue through its real-time PAYE system. The core principles of the scheme are that:

- the business is suffering significant negative economic impact due to the pandemic,

- the employees in respect of whom the wage subsidy is claimed were included on the employer’s payroll on 29 February 2020, and

- the February 2020 payroll submissions were submitted to Revenue before, in general, 15 March 2020 but recently extended, by concession, to 1April 2020.

Revenue advise me that the business in the instance raised by the Deputy does not meet the eligibility criteria for the TWSS at employer level and, thus, is not a position to qualify for the scheme.

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