Shops and newsagents say they are finding it “extremely” difficult to get staff to return to work because of the COVID-19 payment.

It comes after it emerged nearly 40% of people getting the Pandemic Unemployment Payment are currently better off than they were when they were working.

The Government is expected to change the system in June – with payments worked out based on people’s average incomes before the outbreak.

On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, Vincent Jennings, CEO of the Convenience Stores and Newsagents Association said his members are struggling to convince workers to come back in.

“This is public funds and we should not be providing money greater than what the person previously earned because it is a disincentive to work,” he said.

“This is what the economy will need. It will need people to come back into work.”

He said many people receiving the payment were previously earning less because they were working part-time hours.

He warned that the people that are currently working are having to do “trojan” hours to make up for those that refuse to come in.

Solidarity People Before Profit's Bríd Smith speaking at a march against any potential Fianna Fail/Fine Gael government, 07-03-2020. Image: Brian Lawless/PA Wire/PA Images

Meanwhile, People Before Profit TD Bríd Smith told the programme that the situation has exposed the high numbers of “people who are living on very, very low pay” in Ireland.

“What the COVID crisis has exposed more than anything are the vast inequalities and deficits in this economy,” she said.

“It has exposed low pay, which is a massive problem in this country. It has exposed the crisis in our hospitals and in our homecare system. It is now beginning to expose the pupil/teacher ratio in our classrooms, which is one of the highest in Europe

“So, there are a lot of societal and economic problems that were already embedded in our system that this crisis has exposed.

“If the Government reckoned everybody needs €350 a week to survive through the pandemic then that is what you need to live off – because that is being used to pay bills and put food on the table when the kids are at home.”

Closed shops on Dorset Street in Dublin, 22-04-2020. Image: Leah Farrell/RollingNews

She said many people who are now earning more on the payment are lone parents – and said cutting the payment now will hurt the most vulnerable people in society.

“To say we are going to withdraw it for a certain section is the typical divide and rule, lets create a demon and pull people apart [approach] on this issue,” she said.

“I think it is outrageous and we have to defend it.”

Earlier this month, the ESRI warned that 8% of Ireland’s workers are on the minimum wage.

It said they are most likely to be women, working part-time and aged between 15 and 24-years-old.

It said a decision on the future of the minimum wage will be a “key policy question” for the next Government.

You can listen back to the debate here.