Catherine Murphy TD, co-leader of the Social Democrats, has today called for a reversal of cuts to the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) and immediate income supports for parents whose children are sent home from school due to Covid-19 outbreaks.<\/p>\n
Deputy Murphy said:<\/p>\n
\u201cFor most of those who were laid-off last Friday, this will be their second experience of Covid-19 related unemployment within a short space of time. With further reductions today in PUP rates, this will come as a double blow to workers who have found themselves without a job at short notice.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of these workers will have little, if anything, in reserve, which adds to the sense of panic they are feeling right now.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is now really hitting home that Covid-19 will be with us for a considerable time to come, so the timing of the PUP reductions could hardly be worse. These cuts urgently need to be reconsidered and reversed.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnother group finding themselves with little or no financial support are the parents who have been informed by a school that their child must self-isolate.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe CMO was very upfront in advising parents there would be outbreaks in schools, and he was correct.<\/p>\n
\u201cParents are not necessarily required to self-isolate if pupils are sent home from school – but their children still have to be cared for.<\/p>\n
\u201cAccordingly, there is an urgent need to include parents in such situations in the State\u2019s Enhanced Illness Payment Scheme. We should not differentiate between the parent of a child diagnosed with Covid-19 and a parent of a child in a pod who is also sent home from school for 14 days.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reality is that not everyone can work from home and it\u2019s simply not acceptable that a parent could be left without any income at all.<\/p>\n
\u201cI welcome the Taoiseach\u2019s assurances in the D\u00e1il today that he will consider providing income supports for parents who find themselves in this situation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am also hopeful he will look favourably on a proposal from the Primary School Principals\u2019 Network who are seeking a dedicated out-of-hours phone line with the HSE to allow them to seek and receive medical guidance.\u201d<\/p>\n
September 22, 2020<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Catherine Murphy TD, co-leader of the Social Democrats, has today called for a reversal of cuts to the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) and immediate income supports for parents whose children are sent home from school due to Covid-19 outbreaks. Deputy Murphy said: \u201cFor most of those who were laid-off last Friday, this will be their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1049,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[182,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-catherine-murphy","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n