COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment

[2] On 16 March, Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection Regina Doherty announced the COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment, available for six weeks.

[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.

[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.

[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.