RTÉ Guide Maia shared, ‘I’m a freelancer so at the start of lockdown I thought this is ok, I might lose one or two jobs, but then all my jobs were pulled, so it was pretty terrifying.’‘But I thought, I can afford to stay living where I’m living, I just need to batten down the hatches.
For anyone that’s self-employed, it was a horrible time.’While she knows that there is ‘no shame in’ using safety nets like the Pandemic Unemployment Payment, it felt ‘alien’ for her to apply having worked hard since her teenage years to provide for herself.‘I did go on it for a couple of months and it’s something I was almost embarrassed about because I’ve never ever had to claim social welfare,’ she explained.Thankfully, Maia has been able to return to work.
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