335,600 people will receive the Pandemic Unemployment Payment today, an increase of almost 58,000 or over 20% since 22 December.
This is according to the latest figures from the Department of Social Protection. Around 23,000 payments were made between Christmas Eve and 30 December to people who became unemployed in the week before Christmas, as tighter public health restrictions were re-introduced.
The new restrictions resulted in the closure of many businesses. This week's payments amount to just over €99m, bringing the total cost of the PUP scheme since its introduction last March to over €5 billion.
On 22 December, 277,671 people received the PUP, which was a double payment, as no further payment was due until today because of the