It’s been a confusing few days.
People in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) will not have their payments affected if they travel to countries on the government green list, Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection Heather Humphreys has confirmed.
The issue has been the source of much scrutiny in recent days after it emerged that 104 payments had been cut following airport checks, as well as there being much confusion over the message communicated by the government on the matter.
On Tuesday, for example, Humphreys said that people needed to be in the country to be in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment, contradicting the message on the government website, which itself has been edited in recent days.
Speaking in the Dáil on Wednesday, Minister Humphreys confirmed that payments to recipients of the payment won’t be affected by travel to the 15 countries on the government green list, countries to which travel is permitted without Covid-19 restrictions.
Humphreys acknowledged that the government could have “have communicated more effectively” and said that the vast majority of people who had their payments stopped for travelling abroad were leaving Ireland on a permanent basis.
Regulations to ensure the payments of people who travel to countries on the green list will not be affected will be signed, while all cases of people who have had their payments cut for reasons related to travel will be reviewed.
Humphreys clarified that travel to countries not on the green list was permitted for essential reasons only and that payments for people who had to travel to those countries for essential reasons (health or bereavement, for example) would not be affected if they informed their Intreo office in advance.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
