Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 1 July 2021

Thursday, 1 July 2021

Questions (110)

Steven Matthews

Question:

110. Deputy Steven Matthews asked the Minister for Social Protection if her attention has been drawn to cases whereby full-time musicians who are currently in receipt of the pandemic unemployment payment, PUP, due to the ongoing closure of their industry, are receiving phone calls from social welfare officers to ask if they have considered moving to the jobseeker's payment; if this is an operational procedure by her Department; if all persons in receipt of the PUP are likely to receive such a call; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34832/21]

Oral answers (7 contributions)

Deputy Steven Matthews

Has the Minister's attention been drawn to cases whereby full-time musicians or those in the music industry who are currently in receipt of the PUP due to the ongoing closure of the industry, are receiving phone calls from social welfare officers asking if they have considered moving to the jobseeker's payment? Is this an operational procedure by the Department and are all persons in receipt of the PUP likely to receive such a call?

Deputy Heather Humphreys

My Department is very much aware that many people from the music or arts sectors are not yet in a position to return to employment. For these people, many of whom are self-employed, the PUP continues to be an important income support. Rather than seeking to move people off this payment, I was pleased to work with the sector and to make changes to the scheme so that self-employed artists and performers can earn €960 over an eight-week period while continuing to receive the PUP.

The Government also set up the arts and culture task force and recovery oversight groups. In response to the task force recommendations, I am working very closely with my Cabinet colleague, the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport, Gaeltacht and Media, Deputy Catherine Martin, to develop a basic income guarantee scheme for artists.

Separately, my Department is developing and rolling out a range of supports to help all people displaced from employment as a result of the pandemic to return to employment. My Department is now engaging with people in receipt of the PUP for a prolonged duration to check in with them and, where appropriate, advise them of the range of supports and services available to retrain and reskill. As an initial phase of this engagement, the Department has started to make contact with people who have been in continuous receipt of the PUP since it was first introduced in March 2020. These contacts do not target any sector, nor do they exclude any sector. They are designed to be supportive and informative. The response to date has been very positive and it is heartening that many of the people contacted are confident that their jobs should return over the coming weeks.

To be absolutely clear, we do not expect artists or musicians, who are obviously still waiting for their sector to reopen, to engage in retraining. My Department is making people aware of the supports that are available across the board and it is up to individuals to decide on a voluntary basis if they want to take up those supports. The Deputy will appreciate that this initial engagement with PUP recipients is an essential first step to ensure persons whose employment has been most affected by Covid are aware of the options available to them.

Deputy Steven Matthews

I welcome the Minister's statement to the effect that the engagement is across all sectors and that the purpose of the call is to advise and inform people of what options may be available to them, which she reiterated. I am aware of her recent response to Deputy Cannon on the matter. The Minister was clear that she does not expect musicians or artists to retrain.

As I indicated in my question, there is a cohort of workers engaged in work which supports that of artists and musicians who we do not expect to retrain because they will be going back to work when we reopen. We will continue to support those in the industry to perform as much as possible in the coming months. I welcome the Minister's clarification that the calls are just to provide advice and offer guidance to people.

Deputy Heather Humphreys

We all know that the sector has had a really difficult time as it has been shut down since March 2020. What we have done is tried to support the people involved in every way we can. When I engaged with them, they were very pleased that they can earn up to €960 and still keep the pandemic unemployment payment. That meant they could do the occasional gig and it did not affect their payment. I understand that they are in a very difficult situation.

To be fair, the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport, Gaeltacht and Media has put many supports in place for them. I know many artists who welcomed the supports. We must continue to work with the sector. Through the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport, Gaeltacht and Media, with the support of her Government colleagues, we have given every consideration we can to help them through what is a hugely difficult time.

Deputy Steven Matthews

All Members across the House acknowledge the tremendous work being done by the Department of Social Protection, the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, and her predecessor as Minister, now Senator Doherty, all the staff across the Department and in Revenue. Some 15 months ago the Department had to react to give payments to people across society who had never been in receipt of payments before and to make the process as easy and straightforward as possible. I welcome the Minister's commitment that we will continue to do that where necessary. When those phone calls are being made, could it be made clear that it is advice and guidance that are offered not encouragement to move to a different payment, because that can have a detrimental impact on somebody who is waiting to get back to work, who can see light on the horizon in that regard? It can be quite upsetting to receive a phone call like that.

Deputy Heather Humphreys

All my Department is doing is making people on the PUP aware of the various supports that are available. There are a lot of supports and there is no point in the Government putting them in place if we do not tell people about them. It is all voluntary. If a person is confident that his or her job is coming back, that is fine, but if someone needs help, we are here to help. That is the one message I always want to get out: social protection is there to help people when they need it. That is what we do. What we are saying is that people should have a look at what is available and if there are supports we can provide, we want to help.

The staff in the Department of Social Protection have been absolutely amazing during the pandemic. We paid out €8 billion. More than 24 million individual payments have been issued and almost 900,000 people have received support under the scheme. The work that has been done by staff in the Department of Social Protection has been outstanding.

Acting Chairman (Deputy John Lahart)

Hear, hear.