Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe has said the Government will shortly reach a formal decision about the extension of Covid support payments.
Such supports, for individuals and businesses, will continue “well beyond the end of March” he told Newstalk Breakfast.
The Minister said the cost to date of the supports was €2.25 billion and that the schemes were necessary to protect jobs and to ensure that the economy could recover.
While the supports had increased the national debt significantly, the country’s credit worthiness and ability to borrow at very low interest rates justified the borrowing to protect jobs, he said.
A new national wage agreement was important to recognise the “great work” of frontline workers and would avoid “competing wage claims” added Mr Donohoe. If the agreement was reached it would recognise claims and avoid the “vista” of “wage claim after claim” he said.
Hospitality
When asked about the possibility of the hospitality sector reopening in the summer, Mr Donohoe said that would be contingent on public health guidance, but the Government would give the sector “good notice” so they could plan and prepare.
“I hope in the coming weeks we can give the clarity they seek,” he said.
In response to a complaint by Mayo Fine Gael TD Michael Ring about the fact that there was only one vaccination centre in Mayo but two in the constituency of Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly, Mr Donohoe said that the location of such centres was “well beyond the influence of a Minister”.
The location of the centres was determined by public health experts and on the ease with which people could travel to them, he added.
“The biggest story is the progress we’re making.”
On the issue of mandatory quarantine, Mr Donohoe said he believed it was the “right course of action” to get transmission of the virus under control.
