A total of 163,400 people are receiving the Pandemic Unemployment Payment this week — the lowest figure recorded since the pandemic started.
The figure marks a drop of 29,000 on last week, which saw the resumption of indoor dining.
Just under 7,000 of those who closed their claim work in the accommodation and food service sector, with 4,000 involved in retail.
More than €8.3 billion has now been spent on the PUP since it was launched in March 2020.
Meanwhile, the HSE has been “blown away” by the number of people who attended walk-in Covid-19 vaccination centres over the bank holiday weekend, however, concerns still remain regarding high daily case numbers.
Over 30,000 vaccine doses were administered over the weekend, according to HSE chief executive Paul Reid, “outstripping our expectations by far”.
“All age groups went through but this initiative makes us beyond proud of younger people. When needed, they once again showed up in numbers,” he tweeted on Tuesday morning.
Vaccination centres
Long queues were seen outside vaccination centres around the country since the walk-in appointments began on Saturday.
On Monday, Mr Reid said 50 per cent of those attending were aged 16-17, while 64 per cent were 19 or younger.
The positive uptake of the vaccine across all age groups has been widely praised by officials, however, concern remains regarding the "slowly, continuously rising numbers of hospitalised cases".
According to The Irish Times, Ministers will meet later this week to discuss the rising number of patients with Covid requiring hospitalisation.
On Monday, the Department of Health confirmed there were 177 people with the virus in hospital, 27 of whom were in ICU. Mr Reid said a “snapshot” of hospitalised cases over the weekend found 78 per cent of those now in hospital with the virus were not vaccinated.
The meeting is due to be held virtually on Friday, however there are hopes among Ministers that daily case numbers may be plateauing.
