Over €9 billion has been spent on the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) since its introduction in March 2020 demonstrating the Government's absolute commitment to support workers who have been impacted by the Government mandated Covid-19 public health restrictions.
The re-opening of the scheme last December was specifically designed to support those workers who lost their employment further to the introduction of the restrictions which took effect from Tuesday, 7th December.
The existing arrangements, including the transition to standard jobseekers terms, continue to apply for those already in receipt of PUP prior to that date. Self-Employed workers who are in receipt of PUP, including those prior to 7th December, can continue to earn €960 over 8 weeks and retain their PUP payment so there is flexibility to carry out limited amounts of work and retain their payment.
It is important to recognise that we are in a very different situation from the onset of the pandemic when almost the entire economy was closed and over 605,000 were in receipt of the PUP. The vast majority of businesses are open and able to operate as normal.
The current restrictions are targeted and limited in nature and in this regard, my Government colleague, the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media announced a funding package of €50m to support the Live Performance Sector. In addition, the Minister for Finance also announced improved support for businesses under the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) and the Covid Restrictions Support Scheme (CRSS).
I trust that this clarifies the position at this time.
