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The COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (referred to as the PUP) [1] was a government emergency aid program in the Republic of Ireland that provided monetary relief to those who face unemployment due to the COVID-19 pandemic, whether formerly employed or self-employed.
Anyone whose job vanished on (or after) 13 March 2020 as a result of the pandemic was eligible. [2]
On 16 March, Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection Regina Doherty announced the COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment, available for six weeks. [3]
On 24 March, the amount of money distributed as part of the COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment was increased from €203 per week to €350. [4]
By the end of March, the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection announced that the total applications it received for the COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment over the previous two weeks were equivalent to a 19-month claim load. [5]
Doherty defended the scheme on Today with Seán O'Rourke on 3 April amid claims that some students were taking advantage: "By Jove, I know they're going to spend in it in the economy when we re-open in couple of weeks or a couple of months time. It was a very small price to pay for the people that needed an income". [6]
By early April, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) announced that a figure equivalent to more than one tenth of the country's population were unemployed, with more than half of that number receiving the COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment. [7] [8] A spokesman for Goodbody Stockbrokers described it as "unprecedented". [9] By the following week, the numbers receiving the COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment had nearly doubled again from the previous week's total. [10]
In April, the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection "inadvertently" emailed 1,700 people to inform them they were no longer eligible for the scheme. [11]
On 6 May, Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe told Morning Ireland that the payment would continue "in some form" past its original intended date of ending. [12]
On 11 May, it was reported that the number of people receiving the COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment had slightly decreased for the first time since its establishment, though this was attributed to employees being offered the Temporary COVID-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme instead. [13] [14] A further slight fall occurred the following week. [15] [16]
On 19 May, Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe said a decision would be made "soon" regarding an extension of the payment. [17] On 4 June, the Government of Ireland announced that the payment would be extended for "months, not weeks". [18] The Irish Independent reported that the payment would be cut by 40% (from €350 to €203 per week) for part-time workers. [19] On 5 June, Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection Regina Doherty announced that the payment would be extended until 10 August, and would be reduced for part-time workers from 29 June. [20] [21]
On 21 May, a young male was arrested at a house in Mullingar, County Westmeath, after it was determined that he had applied for six separate COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payments. [22]
On 23 July, as part of the July Jobs Stimulus package announced by the Government, the payment was extended until April 2021 and intended to be gradually reduced to €203 per week over that period based on the pre-pandemic earnings of the claimant. The scheme would, at the time of this announcement, close to new applicants from 17 September. [23]
On 15 September, Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys announced that the payment would accept new applicants until the end of the year, with rates going from two different ones to three on 17 September dependent on the amount of money the recipient previously earned. [1]
On 19 October, the Government confirmed that the payment would be restored to €350 for anyone who was earning more than €400 before they lost their job due to COVID-19 restrictions. [24] [25] [26]
On 24 November, Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys secured Government approval to keep the payment open to new applicants until 31 March 2021. [27] [28]
Under the Government's new revised Living with COVID-19 plan published on 23 February 2021, the payment was extended until 30 June 2021. [29] [30] [31]
On 1 June, as part of the Economic Recovery Plan announced by the Government, the payment was extended until September 2021, when gradual reductions would begin. [32] [33] [34]
On 30 September, the Comptroller and Auditor General found there were not enough checks carried out by the Department of Social Protection when people applied for the payment in 2020. The report found that 9.4% of claimants were not eligible, in just under half the cases, the claimant continued working while claiming the PUP and in one quarter of cases, there was no evidence the claimant had been working prior to the pandemic. [35]
On 3 December, as part of the Government's reintroduction of measures, the payment was reinstated for all those who lost their jobs as a result of the restrictions. [36]
The payment closed to new applicants on 22 January 2022, [37] and officially ended on 25 March 2022. [38]
RTÉ News and Current Affairs, also known as RTÉ News, is the national news service provided by Irish public broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann. Its services include local, national, European and international news, investigative journalism and current affairs programming for RTÉ television, radio, online, podcasts, on-demand and for independent Irish language public broadcaster TG4. It is the largest and most popular news source in Ireland – with 77% of the Irish public regarding it as their main source of both Irish and international news. It broadcasts in English, Irish and Irish Sign Language. The organisation is also a source of commentary on current affairs. The division is based at the RTÉ Television Centre in Donnybrook, Dublin; however, the station also operates regional bureaux across Ireland and the world.
The Department of Social Protection is a department of the Government of Ireland, tasked with administering Ireland's social welfare system. It oversees the provision of income support and other social services. It is led by the Minister for Social Protection.
Regina Doherty is an Irish Fine Gael politician who has served as Deputy leader of Seanad Éireann since 2022. She was Leader of the Seanad from 2020 to 2022, and is Leader of Fine Gael in the Seanad since June 2020. She has been a Senator since June 2020, after being nominated by the Taoiseach. She served as Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection from 2017 to 2020 and Government Chief Whip from 2016 to 2017. She was a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Meath East constituency from 2011 to 2020.
Events during the year 2020 in Ireland. As in most of the world, the COVID-19 pandemic dominated events in Ireland during this year.
The COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In the Republic of Ireland, it has resulted in 1,773,000 cases and 9,250 deaths.
The Health Act 2020 was an Act of the Oireachtas which provided for additional powers for the state in the extraordinary circumstances of the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (COVID-19) Act 2020 was an Act of the Oireachtas which provided for additional powers for the state in the extraordinary circumstances of the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The following is a timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland in 2020.
The COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland has had far-reaching consequences in the country that go beyond the spread of the disease itself and efforts to quarantine it, including political, educational and sporting implications.
The July Jobs Stimulus is a €7.4 billion stimulus package announced by the Government of Ireland on 23 July 2020 in response to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland. The package includes 50 measures to boost economic recovery and get people back to work. The spending primarily includes €115 million for active travel, public transport and renewal of transport infrastructure, €75 million for primary and secondary schools to carry out reconfiguration works necessary to support schools' reopening in late August and September 2020 and €112 million in employment services and supports to deliver 47,500 training and apprenticeship places and a €450 million package of business supports including a €250 million Restart Grant to provide direct grant aid to businesses with up to 250 employees to help them with the costs associated with reopening and reemploying workers.
The 2021 Irish budget was the Irish Government Budget for the 2021 fiscal year, which was presented to Dáil Éireann on 13 October 2020 by Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe, and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Michael McGrath.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a deep impact on the Irish economy, leading it into a recession. Essential public health measures announced by the Irish Government to contain the spread of COVID-19 resulted in the largest monthly increase in unemployment in the history of the Republic of Ireland during March 2020. By 24 April, there were more than one million people in receipt of support interventions to the labour market, including those in receipt of the COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment and the COVID-19 Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme. While there were job losses in all sectors, individuals working in tourism, hospitality, food and retail have seen the largest job losses.
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted and affected the political system of the Republic of Ireland, causing suspensions of legislative activities and isolation of multiple politicians due to fears of spreading the virus. Several politicians have tested positive for COVID-19 in 2020, 2021 and 2022.
On 12 March 2020, all schools, colleges, and childcare facilities in the Republic of Ireland were shut down in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The shutdown resulted in the cancellation of the 2020 Leaving Certificate and 2020–2021 Junior Certificate examinations, as well as all 2020–2021 Irish language summer courses in the Gaeltacht.
Events during the year 2021 in Ireland. As in most of the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has dominated events in Ireland during this year.
The following is a timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland in 2021.
The COVID-19 vaccination programme in the Republic of Ireland is an ongoing mass immunisation campaign that began on 29 December 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland. Ireland's vaccination rollout has been praised as one of the most successful rollouts in the world and was ranked number one in the European Union in terms of its percentage of adult population fully vaccinated, and was also ranked number one in the EU for the number of booster vaccines administered.
The Economic Recovery Plan 2021 is a €3.5 billion stimulus package announced by the Government of Ireland on 1 June 2021 to achieve rapid job creation and economic growth after the COVID-19 pandemic. The plan sets out a new phase of supports, investment and policies for a new stage of economic recovery and renewal, with new measures for businesses and affected sectors, and details for existing emergency pandemic financial supports including the COVID-19 Restrictions Support Scheme, Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme and Pandemic Unemployment Payment, giving certainty to businesses and employees and for those who need it most.
The following is a timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland in 2022.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland, the Irish government introduced various public health and economic measures to mitigate its impact.