Northern Ireland’s finance minister has called on the Treasury to reinstate furlough to allow businesses and employees to navigate the latest Covid-19 wave.
Conor Murphy was speaking as the number of people with the Omicron variant in Northern Ireland continues to climb.
The hospitality sector and others have been calling for government support as cancellations for the usually busy Christmas period grow.
Finance Minister, Conor Murphy has written to Treasury calling for additional funding and for the furlough scheme to be reinstated to deal with the increased challenges presented by Omicron.
The minister said he has written to Treasury to lay out the case for the return of the job retention scheme, which paid a percentage of employee wages in business hit hard by the Covid pandemic.
“The emergence of the new Omicron variant has significantly affected the economy with pressures being felt most acutely in the hospitality sector in the run up to Christmas,” he said. “I have stressed to Treasury that the Executive need to be able to respond quickly and flexibly to the emerging public health position.
“Having to wait to see what England’s response is in order to know what level of financial support is available here is an untenable position.”
He said the £75 million of additional funding already announced by the Treasury for Northern Ireland was welcome, but not enough.
The minister said £50 million of that had been expected and already accounted for while just £25 million was new funding.
“I am therefore calling on Treasury to immediately provide further support to allow us to plan our response. I have also called for the reinstatement of the furlough scheme where necessary and a guarantee of significant additional funding without the caveat of possible repayment. These measures will help us support businesses and the public through this challenging period.”
