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The Government will be “pulling the rug” out from under people with plans to gradually reduce the rate of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP), Sinn Féin finance spokesman Pearse Doherty has said.
The planned tapering off of the PUP as the country emerges from the Covid-19 pandemic comes as the Government is to announce a major €3.5 billion economic recovery plan.
It is understood the PUP could be closed to new entrants as soon as July.
The reduction in rates is expected to begin at the start of September and will be staggered across three phases over the following months.
Under plans being considered, those on the highest rate, €350 a week, will see their payment cut to €300, while those in receipt of €300 a week will have their payment reduced to €250. The lowest rate, €250 a week, will come into line with the jobseekers’ allowance of €203.
The economic recovery plan is to be signed off by Cabinet at a meeting on Tuesday morning, with the staggered reduction in the PUP the main target of Opposition criticism.
Mr Doherty told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland that there was “a moral obligation” to support those who could not go back to work because of public health guidelines.
The supports would phase out naturally as people started to go back to work, he said,
Not everyone would be able to go back to work in September due to public health restrictions, he said.
Workers in aviation, event management, hospitality and other sectors would still be restricted from returning to work, but the Government was effectively saying ‘we are cutting your supports and forget about we’re all in it together’, he said.
“The Government has pulled the rug from under these people by reducing supports,” Mr Doherty said.
Senator Marie Sherlock, Labour Party employment affairs spokeswoman, said the decision to reduce the PUP “shows the ivory tower many in Government exist in”.
Talk of projected economic growth “blatantly ignores” the reality for thousands of workers in the retail, aviation, hospitality and arts sectors, she said.
“This move will hit young workers in particular because we know that the re-opening of the economy does not necessarily mean they will get their jobs back,” she said.
“We know there are structural permanent changes taking place in the retail sector, the aviation sector will take years to recover if at all while many in the arts sector will have missed the traditional summer boom period and will be facing into a second very bleak winter,” she said.