Press release
Ireland placed on Level 5 Restrictions of the Plan for Living with COVID-19 - with a number of specific adjustments
The government has today agreed that from midnight on 24 December until 12 January, Level 5 restrictions will apply nationally. There will be a number of specific adjustments to Level 5 and, in addition, certain transitional arrangements will apply during the Christmas period.
The government has considered a number of factors in arriving at this decision, including NPHET concerns at the rapid increase in COVID-19 case numbers over recent days, the nature of social interaction likely to take place over the Christmas period involving mixing between younger and older people and the risk that this could lead to a wave of infection with a higher risk age profile.
Businesses on the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) will have to provide Revenue with a six-month sales projection within 10 days or lose their eligibility for the programme, the Irish Independent has learned.
Following updated guidance from Revenue on Friday implementing changes made to the Finance Bill by Finance Minister Paschal Donohue last month, employers claiming a subsidy under the scheme must now show a 30pc reduction in turnover will occur for the period January 1 to June 30.
Companies must make the calculation by December 31 and compare it to the corresponding period in 2019, demonstrating to Revenue s satisfaction that their business will still qualify for the supports under the new terms.
Updated / Friday, 18 Dec 2020
11:35
The month with highest uptake of employment-related support was April, the CSO said today
New Central Statistics Office figures show that almost six in ten enterprises in Ireland availed of the State s Covid-19 employment-related support schemes in the months from March to September.
Today s CSO figures show that 54.1% of enterprises put their employees on the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) during this period - this figure also included self-employed people.
Meanwhile, 21.4% of enterprises also received a subsidy from Revenue s Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS) or Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) at some point between March and September.
The month with highest uptake of employment-related support was April when 57% of enterprises had staff in receipt of TWSS or PUP.
“Eligibility will be determined largely on the basis of self-assessment and declaration by the employer concerned, combined with a risk-focused follow-up by verification by Revenue involving an examination of relevant business records where that is considered necessary,” Revenue noted when the scheme was launched.
“Our approach will be based on a presumption of honesty and we expect businesses to approach the scheme in a similar manner,” it added.
The company owner who spoke to this newspaper said he expected his turnover to plunge as much as 90pc in the second quarter. In the event, it was down 17pc in that period as the firm used its own limited financial resources to push heavily into online sales, in a risky move for business.
The pay gap between workers in industries hit by Covid and those in more protected parts of the economy widened in 2020 despite significant State income support, according to new Central Statistics Office (CSO) data.
The median weekly income of employees who received State Covid-19 income supports, such as employer wage subsidies or pandemic unemployment payments (PUP), fell by 12pc in the year to the end of September.
Yet employees who received no Covid funding actually saw their income increase by 5pc on average, suggesting the negative economic impact of the pandemic has been far from a universal experience.
At the height of the Covid crisis in Q2 more than a quarter of the workforce was either unemployed or supported in their employment by the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme, leading to massive downward pressure on average wages.