Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
National
Cormac O'Shea

Social welfare: Leo Varadkar gives likely end date for PUP as decision date nears

Tanaiste Leo Varadkar has said that the Pandemic Unemployment Payment will likely be phased out in September or October.

The Fine Gael leader 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.

Tanaiste Leo Varadkar had a positive outlook ahead of Friday's announcement. (PA Archive/PA Images)

"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”.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.