Press Release: Emergency Coronavirus Legislation
Emergency Legislation:
Full pay and job protection necessary for all unable to work, illness benefit at minimum
Restrictions to civil liberties must not be abused - requirement for parliamentary renewal necessary
Powers to requisition vacant dwellings, private hospitals and medical equipment companies required
“The emergency legislation being proposed by the government has two aspects. One relates to the provision of illness benefit and jobseeker's benefit and allowance for those affected by the crisis. The second is the granting of substantial powers to the state to restrict civil liberties in order to limit the spread of the Coronavirus. In the amendments we (Paul Murphy TD and People Before Profit TDs) are putting forward we are seeking to extend the availability of payments to all those affected by the crisis, while limiting the restrictions on civil liberties and ensuring they can only be renewed through a majority vote in the Dail. We are also seeking to place public health before private profit.
“We have already called for full pay for anyone who is laid off or loses their income due to Covid-19, as we've seen in countries like Denmark and Sweden. Instead, Fine Gael’s approach is to allow hundreds of thousands of people to suffer a big drop of income. The emergency legislation doesn't provide what's needed: everyone who is laid off, loses their income or becomes ill should get their full pay or at an absolute minimum, the proposed sick pay of €305 a week. They are all victims of this virus.
“We have put forward amendments to ensure that anybody who stays off work as a consequence of this crisis - because of childcare, because of engaging in social distancing, self isolation, or because of their workplace closing - would be entitled to illness benefit of €305 a week.
“To pursue the fight against the Coronavirus in the most effective way possible, it is necessary to place public health before private property rights and private profit. This legislation is a missed opportunity by the government to do precisely that. We have submitted amendments that would give power to the government to ‘direct the production, manufacture and distribution of medical goods necessary to prevent, limit, minimise, slow and treat the spread of Covid 19, specifically the production in relevant sectors of the economy and industry of ventilators, protective equipment and other essential goods for dealing with this crisis and to further make provision for the Minister to make regulations to direct and control the use of all private medical facilities and suitable buildings in the state for the same purposes.’ Workers in these industries should be brought to the heart of management of production. They do the work, they know the capacity and needs of production and distribution. This expertise should be utilised to develop an overall plan.
"We have also proposed an amendment to give the government the power to requisition vacant dwellings, and other properties in order to limit the spread of Covid-19. This would enable homeless people or those in overcrowded emergency accommodation and family hubs to self-isolate, especially now that the schools are closed and children are at home.
“In relation to the widespread restrictions on civil liberties contained in Part III of the legislation, clearly extraordinary measures are required in order to limit the spread of the virus. It is not just schools and educational facilities that the government should have the power to direct to close, but also non-essential businesses, and we have put forward an amendment to that effect.
“However, we have concerns about the possibility of the provisions relating to the government’s power to prohibit events being abused by a right wing government to restrict the right to protest or the right of workers to strike, in particular against unsafe working conditions or insufficient supports. For this reason, Paul Murphy TD has proposed amendments for a right of appeal against bans on protests, inserting reference to the rights to freedom of assembly and movement, and that these powers can only be extended on the basis of a vote by the Dail. These extraordinary powers must not outlast the current emergency, as for instance has been the case with the notorious Patriot Act in the US.
"Trade Unions and civil liberty organisations should closely monitor the application of these provisions and ensure they are not used to restrict democratic rights. It is vital now and in the period ahead that Trade Unions and workers’ are at the centre of shaping the response to the epidemic and economic fallout. Workers cannot be made to pay now or in the future for the lack of investment and planning by successive governments in our health system and other public services."