Number of Offaly layoffs from COVID-19 revealed

Almost 9,500 people in Offaly have been temporarily laid off due to the COVID-19 pandemic or have had to leave work to isolate at home.

The figures were revealed today by the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection which said it has this week paid circa 8,800 COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payments in Offaly.

Another 600 people in the county have received the Enhanced Illness Benefit, which is payable to individuals who have been medically certified to self-isolate or have been diagnosed with Covid-19. It is paid at a rate of €350 per week, the same as the Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment.

A county breakdown of the number of employees on the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme is not available. The Department says that nationally, some 49,000 employers have registered with the Revenue Commissioners for the Temporary Covid-19 Wage Subsidy scheme.

Across the State, the Department this week issued Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment totalling €207m to 591,000 people

It says around 21,000 are receiving a payment for the first time.

All Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment payments issued will be in recipients’ bank accounts or at their local post office tomorrow, Tuesday.

The payments are in addition to the approximate 205,000 people who were on the Live Register as of the end of March.

Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Regina Doherty today said:

“The smaller increase in the numbers on the COVID-19 payment this week as compared with previous weeks would suggest that we have come through the worst of temporary job lay-offs.

That said, with over a million people in the country now dependent on some level of state provided income support, the scale of the challenge that this health emergency has posed for our national economy and to so many households is now very clear.”