Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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61. To ask the Minister for Finance the total spend to date on the Covid-19 pandemic; and the amount by which the national debt has risen as a result. [44886/21]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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Over €48 billion has been allocated towards Covid measures from 2020 to 2022, in the form of taxation measures, direct expenditure measures and ‘below the line’ supports such as credit guarantees.

In 2020, €25 billion was made available in total, with €16.6 billion allocated in direct expenditure measures. Provisional outturn figures indicate that from this allocation, €15.4 billion was spent. Of that €15.4 billion, over €9 billion was spent on the Pandemic Unemployment Payment, the Employee Wage Subsidy Scheme and its precursor, the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme.

Outturn figures for 2021 are not yet available, however, including the measures announced in the Economic Recovery Plan, it is currently expected that Covid-19 direct expenditure supports will amount to around €15 billion this year, with a further €1.5 billion allocated for taxation measures.

Expenditure on the Pandemic Unemployment Payment and Employee Wage Subsidy Scheme in 2021 currently stands at approximately €7 billion.

General Government Debt at end-2019 - immediately before the pandemic - stood at €204bn. In this year’s Summer Economic Statement, year-end 2021 General Government Debt was forecast at €241.5bn, an increase of €37.5bn over the two year period. However, a revised deficit and debt forecast will be published as part of Budget 2022.