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The current level of payments for people who have lost all or part of their income due to coronavirus restrictions are unsustainable in the long term, Regina Doherty said Tuesday.
There are now 598,000 people receiving the special Covid-19 unemployment payment, an increase of about 7,000 in the past week.
The department said this was above approximately 205,000 on the live record when receiving the job seeker benefit.
In addition, workers in 52,000 companies or businesses have their pay fully or partially financed under the government’s Covid-19 temporary wage subsidy scheme.
It is understood that around 427,000 workers who have received at least one subsidized payment.
This means that there are approximately 1.23 million workers who depend on state support for all or part of their income.
Current payments
The Social Protection Minister said Tuesday while the department would continue to support people that current payments would not be sustainable in the long term.
Doherty told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland that he expects all construction workers to exit the Covid-19 pandemic Unemployment Payment and return to work in the coming weeks, which would remove 78,000 people from the live record.
“We will continue to care for people long after this pandemic ends,” he said.
In response to the unemployment figures, Doherty said government officials “are now planning the additional supports and initiatives that we will have to implement to ensure that the thousands of displaced workers can return to work as quickly as possible.”
“We are determined that this short-term health crisis will not be economic in the long term for all those workers and families who have been affected.”
He said the government package of € 6.5 billion to support businesses was an acknowledgment of the need for assistance, he said. Only part of the package will require legislation that would take weeks, which is why government formation negotiations were important.
Meanwhile, Tánaiste Simon Coveney has denied that there is tension between the government and the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet).
In response to media reports of the tension between the two bodies, Mr. Coveney told RTÉ Today radio with Séan O’Rourke “it just isn’t true, it doesn’t mean we didn’t debate the issues.” Nphet has a job to do and that is to offer the best advice. ”
Instructions
Nphet met this morning to discuss the situation with the coronavirus. A briefing with government media will also be held Tuesday, as well as an update by An Garda Síochána on the number of people arrested for violating the coronavirus travel restrictions.
16 other people diagnosed with Covid-19 died in the Republic, health officials reported Monday, bringing the total number of deaths associated with the disease to 1,319. The death toll worldwide amounts to more than 250,000.
The current restrictions on social and economic life will be eased in stages starting May 18.
Some ministers are pushing to speed up the reopening plan, although Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Health Minister Simon Harris are cautious about going beyond the advice of public health officials. Everyone says that the gradual reopening of commercial and social life will only continue if the suppression of the virus continues.
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