The Government will press ahead with plans to cut the Pandemic Unemployment Payment from September, the Finance Minister has said.
Paschal Donohoe explained that this will still happen even if unemployment remains between 13% and 15%.
The payments will begin to be wound down by €50 starting in September as the government aims to move PUP recipients back to the basic jobseekers rate – €203 for a single person.
Earlier this month, the PUP scheme was shut for new entrants as the government plans to slow down financial payments as the economy and society reopen.
"The reason why we're committed to doing that is that we are actually going to be extending the pandemic unemployment payment out to the start of next year, we are going to be reducing it but we're going to be reducing it gradually in three different moves," Mr Donohoe told RTE's Morning Ireland.
"And the reason why we will be doing this is that when myself and the then-Taoiseach but now Tanaiste were involved in creating in the pandemic unemployment payment, we thought it would be for a few weeks or a few months."
He added: "It has now been in place for well over a year and as the health emergency begins to improve, we also will need to change the kind of emergency payments that we've had in place.
"We're going to do it in a gradual way. And by gradually phasing out the emergency expenditure that we have in place over a two year period, it allows our borrowing to fall, and in turn, allows us to invest in, for example, building homes."
Under the State’s Economic Recovery Plan, the weekly payment rate will reduce by €50 on the following dates:
7 September 2021
16 November 2021
8 February 2022
If your reduced PUP payment is less than the jobseekers payment or other social welfare income supports that you qualify for, you will get the higher sum.
