The Government's new Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme will cost the state over €0.5 billion less that the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme, despite running for two months longer, according to the Minister for Finance.
Responding to a Parliamentary Question from Labour Finance spokesperson Ged Nash, Paschal Donohoe confirmed that the TWSS cost the state over €2.8 billion between March and August of this year.
But the Minister said that bill would have risen by a further €0.5 billion a month if the scheme had been extended beyond then.
By contrast, the EWSS which replaced the TWSS on September 1 is expected to cost a total of €2.25 billion by the time it is due to expire at the end of next March.