Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 1 July 2021
112. Deputy Réada Cronin asked the Minister for Social Protection if in the event of longer restrictions in the matter of the pandemic, she will commit to increasing expenditure on the pandemic unemployment payment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31891/21]
View answerThe Pandemic Unemployment Payment, or PUP, was introduced as an emergency measure to support people who lost their employment due to Government mandated public health restrictions.
To date expenditure on the scheme is over €8 billion and just under 900,000 people have benefitted from the scheme. This demonstrates the Government's absolute commitment to support workers and businesses who have been severely impacted by Covid-19.
As public health restrictions have been relaxed in recent months tens of thousands of people have already returned to work. The number of people in receipt of the PUP has fallen from 482,000 in February to just under 228,000 this week.
In order to allow as much time as possible for the economy to re-open and for employment to recover, the Government has decided to taper the payment and withdraw it on a phased basis over a prolonged period. Accordingly the rates of payment will remain unchanged until September when they will commence a gradual reduction over 6 months back to the standard jobseekers terms.
The final changes to the PUP are planned for February 2022 meaning that a payment that was originally intended to be in place for just twelve weeks will now run for almost two years.
I believe that this approach is fair and proportionate.
Of course as has been the case throughout the pandemic, the Government will continue to keep the position in relation to the PUP under review in line with public health advice.
