‘It may be up to new government to cut pandemic unemploymeny payment’ - says Leo Varadkar

The 350 euro weekly payment is due to expire on June 8 but Leo Varadkar confirmed it will continue past this date.

However, Mr Varadkar told the Dail the decision to extend it may not be made by the current government.

Government formation talks are ongoing, more than 100 days since February’s inconclusive general election result.

Mr Varadkar said: “The economy is only slowly opening up now and it is going to have to be extended.

“Nobody needs to worry, the payment expires if you get your job back but anyone who has not been offered their job back will continue to receive the payment beyond June.

“Government will have to make a decision.

“This government or the new government will have to make a decision as to how long it will be extended until.

“We also have to deal with some of the anomalies as some people are receiving more money on the payment than they did in January or February before the pandemic began.

“None of these decisions have to be made now and they may well be decisions for the next government and we may require a further revised estimates in the coming weeks.”

Earlier, the HSE chief clinical officer Dr Colm Henry said Covid-19 has been moved off the streets of Ireland and is mainly being spread among households.

Dr Henry said the number of contacts of people confirmed with Covid-19 is now less than three.

Dr Henry told RTE Morning Ireland: “It is important to remind people of the gains that we have made as a country.

“We have seen a 70% reduction in the number of people in our ICUs and a 70% reduction in the number of people in our hospitals.

“We have seen the virus beaten off the streets in our towns and cities and into households.

“So much so that the number of contacts per confirmed case has gone from a peak of 20 to less than three and sometimes two.

Elsewhere, the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council has warned Ireland’s debt could return to near-record levels due to Covid-19.

The council said it could reach 160% of gross national income, up from 99% in 2019.

It has also warned it could take up to three and a half years for the economy to return to pre-crisis levels.

The coronavirus death toll in Ireland rose to 1,615 on Tuesday after a further nine were announced.

There were another 37 cases of Covid-19 confirmed on Tuesday, taking the total to 24,735.