Paschal Donohoe said extra spending to deal with the crisis will top 8 billion.
The Finance Minister has indicated the cost of the coronavirus pandemic will likely be more than €16 billion euro.
Paschal Donohoe said extra spending to deal with the crisis will top €8 billion, on top of an estimated €8 billion cost of the measures has already put in place by Government to tackle the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
''I should indicate that we believe that the tax revenue that will be forgone as a result of tax economic activity going down is likely to be ahead of that figure (€8 Billion)'', he said.
His comments come after new figures today showed that 513 thousand people are receiving some form of unemployment benefit.
That includes over 283 thousand people availing of the special pandemic payment.
Speaking of the affected people at a press briefing today, Mr.Donohoe said:
''I have no doubt at all, that all of those people will be in a position where we will help them see their incomes being rebuilt, and work so hard to make sure there's a job available for them as quickly as we can.''
Meanwhile, new figures today show the government's tax take so far this year is €800 million below expectations.
