Mr. Niall Cody:

At the time, in mid-March 2020, the genesis of the temporary wage subsidy scheme, as I outlined last year to the committee, was that the first thing to be announced was the pandemic unemployment payment, PUP. That scheme was brought in and it was going to be made available for any employee who was let go. When it was introduced, we ourselves looked at whether we could use our PAYE system to provide a mechanism to allow employers to support employees. We contacted the Department of Finance to say we thought we could do something to enable employers to do that. The Government then looked at it - it was the quickest response we have ever got to any proposal we have made - and said that if we could do that, that would be great. It was then a policy decision around having a broad-based scheme to support employment and this was across the full sector of the economy.

As it turned out subsequently, most of the money has been funded by the EU as part of the support of the EU system in response to the Covid pandemic impact. It was a broad-based scheme and the employment wage subsidy scheme, which replaced it, is similarly broadly based across the economy. That makes sure it does not fall foul of any state aid rules, as would be the case if we picked particular sectors.

Ultimately, it is a Government decision. The wage subsidy schemes have been a phenomenal success in meeting the policy requirements of keeping people in employment. Today's newspapers show unemployment is down to something like 6.9%, according to Central Statistics Office, CSO, figures published today. We never had the wage subsidy schemes before and I do not know what will happen in future, but the payroll system and the PAYE modernisation have provided that platform to support businesses.