CEO of the Irish Small and Medium Business Association (ISME) Neil McDonnell has issued a statement calling for the government to scrap their plans for a new bank holiday and frontline worker bonus payments as a way to reward their efforts during the pandemic. Mr McDonnell said the new bank holiday because it will burden future generations with increased debt.
According to RTE, ISME has also called for unions to “say no” to increased calls for frontline pandemic bonuses.
With more sectors, including pharmacists, teachers, transport workers, retail staff and soldiers, seeking recognition payments for what they claim were Covid-19 frontline duties, Mr McDonnell said the trade union movement needs “the moral courage” to say the “bonus plans should not happen”.
He called on Government to abandon the plans.
“We are asking Minister Donohoe and Minister McGrath to call a halt to all this rather excited talk about €1 billion to say thanks to people. Just stop, do not make the problem any worse,” he said.
“There is somewhat of an air of unreality. When you think about the great recession that we all went through just over a decade ago, we went in to that recession with a national debt of €50 billion and within a few years that national debt had gone up to €200bn.
“In the last year and a bit, we have now added another €50bn of debt to that.
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