It brings the total to almost 600,000.
(Source: www.pixabay.com)Another 21,000 people will get the Covid 19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment this week.
That brings the total to 591,000.
Meanwhile almost 50,000 employers are availing of the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme, while 205,000 people are on the live register.
The Social Protection Minister says the smaller increase in the numbers on the COVID-19 payment this week would suggest we have come through the worst of temporary job lay-offs. However, Regina Doherty added that with over a million people now dependent on some level of income support, the scale of the challenge is now very clear.
Later this week the National Public Health Emergency Team will decide what coronavirus restrictions, if any, should be eased next week.
There are now over 19,000 confirmed cases of Covid 19 here and 1,087 people have lost their lives to the virus here.
