Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys told the Dáíl yesterday that she was introducing a regulation to allow people receiving the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) and Jobseeker’s Allowance to travel to “green list” countries on holidays without having their payments stopped. The Cavan/Monaghan TD found herself at the centre of controversy this week when it emerged that PUP payments had been stopped in the cases of numerous people following checks conducted at airports.
In a statement earlier in the week, the Department of Social Protection had reiterated the recent Government advice to people to holiday at home this summer and said that the PUP payment was only issued to people actively seeking employment. “It is not paid to people who go on holidays abroad or when they are going through their 14- day quarantine period,” the Department then said.
The Department said officials conducted regular inspections on passengers travelling through airports, including interviews carried out by “trained investigators”, audits….
