Sir, – Senator Regina Doherty ("Fine Gael is full of very ordinary people", Letters September 30th) may well rightfully claim considerable credit for her then-government's swift response in setting up the pandemic unemployment payment (PUP) and temporary wage subsidy scheme (TWSS) to alleviate the impact of so many jobs being closed down.
It was indeed an emergency measure and one which would have to be recalibrated “to ensure our resources were better targeted to those most in need”.
What’s actually happened is that many of those in dire need, including self-employed crew and companies in the live events sector, are being brutally squeezed by the tapering of the PUP and changes in the TWSS. Mortgages, loans and countless household and business expenses are not tapering, however.
While the Government pats itself on the back for introducing a small number of measures for the sector which will have little or no positive impact for those most in need, the live events sector is teetering on the brink, and, unless major measures are implemented immediately to keep the sector alive, it will perish and the decades of building up the skill-sets, businesses and benefits to the economy and society in general will be set at nought. That would be nothing for Regina Doherty and the Government to crow about. – Yours, etc,
ANDREW LEONARD,
( Lighting Designer),
Glenageary,
Co Dublin.