The government has yet to make a decision on the extension of the unemployment payment Covid-19



[ad_1]

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe says the government has not yet made a decision on extending the pandemic unemployment payment beyond June 8.

He did not confirm whether the € 350 per week allocation would continue beyond this point.

Speaking in the morning about Ireland’s TEN on Friday, Minister Donohoe stressed that unemployment payment schemes are costing hundreds of millions per week and “we want to strike the right balance.”

More than a million people currently depend on the state for their income at the moment, he revealed.

Minister Donohoe said he acknowledged the “tension and concern” affecting those who are out of work and dependent on wage supports, adding that the government was trying to “preserve people’s incomes.”

Sign up for our newsletter today!

Just enter your email in the box at the top of this article and receive the latest news and entertainment directly

Every day we will send you a summary email with the latest news. Irish local news, UK and international news, local and national news on sports and entertainment, all in one handy email.

You can unsubscribe from this service at any time. And rest assured that your data will not be shared with any other party.

read more

He also added that the Government wants the country to return to work and added “We are going to do what we can to keep the jobs we have.”

And he reiterated the importance of a gradual reopening of the economy to guarantee the health and safety of workers.

“The way we can deal with the problems you are correctly identifying is to do it gradually, with enough time between each phase to understand the impact on public health of the decisions we have previously made.”

Minister Donohoe said the government wants to see the effect of the reopening of the economy before making a decision on the extension of the pandemic unemployment payment or the temporary wage subsidy scheme.

read more

Coronavirus Ireland

He added: “What we are doing right now is evaluating what we might pay in the future and, crucially, we want to see what happens when we go through with phase one of the economy and what happens to employment levels when we take this decision.

“These payments definitely have a future, but the nature of that future, how long the payments will be maintained and the level of the payment, we will have to make a decision about in the coming weeks.”

“Because they cost so much and because we are about to continue reopening our economy, we want to see the effect of that reopening first and then we will make a decision.”



[ad_2]