Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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98. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of persons in each supported by the employment wage subsidy scheme and its predecessor since the start of the pandemic; the value of the support in each county over that time in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54374/21]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS) was introduced in 26 March 2020 as an emergency income support for eligible employees where the employer’s business activities were negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Over 66,600 employers received a subsidy under the TWSS with payments of €2.8 billion paid out to a total of 664,500 workers. The scheme operated until 31 August 2020 and was replaced by the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) from 1 September 2020.

The objective of the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) is to support employment and maintain the link between the employer and employee insofar as is possible. The EWSS has been a key component of the Government’s response to the continued Covid-19 crisis to support viable firms and encourage employment in the midst of these very challenging times.

The cost to date (4th November) of the EWSS alone is almost €6.2 billion, comprising of direct subsidy payments of €5.349 billion and PRSI forgone of €843 million to 51,600 employers in respect of over 681,000 employees.

To answer the Deputy's specific question for an analysis by county, the table below provides an indication of the number of employees supported by the TWSS and the EWSS, and the amounts of direct subsidy provided, for both schemes. As such amounts relating to Employers’ PRSI foregone are not included in the table below, nor are such data readily available.

It may be noted that the totals in this table do not fully reconcile to the overall aggregate totals for the amount of subsidy paid out under the schemes and the number of employees supported by the schemes. Revenue are actively reviewing the accuracy and the validity of claims which may result in some changes. Further, in some cases Revenue cannot accurately allocate a location for some employees based on the present data. Nonetheless, the data in the table will provide the Deputy with indicative estimates of the number of employees supported and the amount of direct subsidy support provided on a county basis, based on the best information available at this time.