The end of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment is in sight following the latest statement from Tanaiste Leo Varadkar.
The Fine Gael leader said that the PUP is likely to be phased out by the end of the year earmarking September or October.
He said a decision will be made on Tuesday and that the government aims to end the support "cautiously".
Speaking in the Dublin Bay South constituency today, Mr Varadkar said: “We are making a decision on Tuesday in relation to the future of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment.
"It was always introduced as a temporary measure for the pandemic. So it will have to end at some point, but we’re not going to phase it out too quickly.
"A lot of businesses really aren’t going to reopen until later on in July, hospitality, tourism and aviation, for example, and some don’t even have a date yet for reopening.
“The phase out is going to be done cautiously, it’s not going to start immediately, it’ll start probably in September or October.”
The Tanaiste was also speaking about public drinking in Dublin on Saturday which CMO Dr Holohan had described as "shocking".
Varadkar said: “If the weather is good next weekend, there is a risk that we'll see a repeat of those scenes, but there is responsibility obviously on the gardai to enforce the law and also the city council to make sure that people have facilities and there are bins made available.
“As a central government, we will be working on that too. People shouldn’t be meeting up in groups of more than three households and should try to observe social distancing. We would certainly share the CMO’s [chief medical officer's] concerns in relation to that”.
