ICCL's @liamherrick earlier spoke to Morning Ireland about cutting both the pandemic payment and social welfare payments to recipients going on holiday to countries not on the green list. https://www.rte.ie/radio/radioplayer/html5/#/radio1/21809052

This creates a situation where advice for one section of population has become force of law for the section dependent on social welfare. This is discriminatory and raises serious questions about equality before the law.

The move also raises questions about lawfulness. If a minister is introducing a statutory instrument of this type, she has to prove that it is within the principles of a primary piece of legislation. There is no primary legislation about the travel advice.

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar's comments that airports provide information to the Department of Employment and Social Protection also raises other questions: Where has this information come from? How was it lawfully obtained and how has it been lawfully shared with DEASP?

Every time we get a story like this from DEASP, it's accompanied by stats on fraud. But what we're talking about here is not fraud. We're talking about people being cut off because they have gone on holidays even though it is not unlawful to go on holiday.

And how could people know these changes had been made? The State made a policy decision not to restrict travel in and out of the country but at the same time appears to have introduced a restriction for people dependent on social protection.

Govt says if a person is abroad, they're not available to work. But the pandemic payment purpose is to maintain a wage for an employee while their company cannot offer employment. It doesn't require that somebody is out there seeking work on an ongoing basis.

Something that is not law has become law for one section of the population. That gives rise to profound questions of discrimination. It behoves the Government to provide clarity on this: Was this a Cabinet decision? Has the AG offered advice on the legality of the approach?