Donohoe aware women on maternity leave locked out of wage subsidy scheme

The Finance Minister says that he is "very aware" of an anomaly in the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme which has locked women returning from maternity leave out of payments.

However, Paschal Donohoe has told the Dáil that he is not in a position to say whether the issue can be solved without new legislation.

The scheme sees the Government subsidising up to 85% of wages for companies who have lost over 25% of turnover due to the Covid-19 crisis.

However, an irregularity in the law was found last month which sees women who are returning from unpaid maternity leave and were not on their company's payroll in January and February unable to access the subsidy.

The National Women's Council of Ireland has referred the issue to the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, with Director Orla O'Connor saying the council believed the situation breached existing law.

“We believe that this approach is not in compliance with the Maternity Protection Act 1994 which provides that women on maternity leave are entitled to be treated as if they had been at work during their maternity leave.”

Minister Donohoe said that discussion was ongoing between his Department and the Revenue Commissioners on whether the issue can be rectified without new legislation.

Mr Donohoe said that it was "an inescapable reality" that there will be a cost to the state for the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme and Pandemic Unemployment Payment and added that Ireland's deficit this year is likely to hit €30 billion this year.