Today marks the end of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP). Remaining recipients will now transition to jobseekers' payments, if they are deemed eligible.
The scheme was closed for new applications in January and, last week, final payments to the remaining 44,747 claimants were processed.
The PUP was first introduced as the Covid-19 pandemic struck in March 2020 and was originally intended to be a six-week, short-term measure.
Two years and €9 billion later, the final PUP payments have been issued. At one stage, the PUP was paid at a flat rate of €350 a week before being restructured and linked to previous earnings.