Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The Government is committed to supporting jobseekers, including those unemployed pre-Covid and those whose employment has been displaced as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, in taking up education and training opportunities and to work with them to take up these options. We need to target supports at those who will most need them. Many of those in receipt of the PUP will return to their previous employment - and indeed many have already done so - as public health restrictions ease and the economy opens to varying degrees. At its peak, more than 600,000 people were in receipt of PUP in May 2020, and at its lowest, in October there were just over 205,000 in receipt PUP. As of yesterday, there were just over 351,000 in receipt of this income support. With this week's move from level 5 to level 3 restrictions and the partial opening up of the economy, a significant proportion of these people will exit the PUP scheme and return to employment in the coming weeks. It is, therefore, essential that we target support and resources at those whose jobs are permanently lost and those who have been receiving PUP for significant periods since last May.