Thousands of people have lost their jobs as a result of Covid-19 and many more will too in the coming months.
Workers and families are trying to figure out how to pay bills and rent, how they will pay their mortgage and how they will get from one day to the next.
We don't know when it will all end. No one is responsible for this outbreak but the Government will be responsible for how we respond to the social and economic consequences of it.
I have spoken to families who have lost almost all their income but who still need to pay bills and feed their children with nothing more than €203 a week in unemployment payment to make ends meet.
This cannot continue. We need to rise to the challenge of what is being faced by families right now.
Europe, other countries have stepped in with multi-billion euro packages to keep workers in jobs, keep businesses afloat and provide real support for families.
The Danish government is covering 75% of wages as businesses suffer from a lack of income, instead of allowing thousands to be made redundant as has happened here.
France and Germany have provided financial packages of up to 15% of their entire country's incomes to support workers.
So far here, the Government has provided less than 1%.
More needs to be done. The people of this State need a bailout - that is the reality.
It is not enough to ask communities to pull together when workers' lives have been pulled apart or to ask banks for a three-month mortgage break only for them to turn a blind eye.
In the aftermath of the financial crisis, it was the resilience of ordinary workers that got our economy back on its feet.
Those workers, their families and our communities now need to be supported.
In the eye of this new storm, the State must deliver for its people as guardian of common good.
This must be a bailout for workers and families.
And this requires decisive action.
*Pearse Doherty is Sinn Fein's Deputy Leader and Spokesman for Finance
