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More than 70,000 people left unemployed because of Covid-19 will be back working by the end of the year, the Minister for Finance has said.<\/p>\nMore than 70,000 people left unemployed because of Covid-19 will be back working by the end of the year, the Minister for Finance has said.<\/p>\n
Paschal Donohoe said getting people back into jobs will be a \u201chuge driver\u201d of tax revenue increases.<\/p>\n
More than 400,000 people are currently claiming the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP).<\/p>\n
Mr Donohoe said economic forecasts show that around 220,000 people could be back working next year, meaning it could be 2023 before Ireland returns to pre-pandemic employment levels.<\/p>\n
He added getting people back to work will be the \u201ckey driver\u201d of closing the gap between what the Government spends and what it taxes.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn every budget that I have done there has always been changes in taxes \u2026 that have made and delivered higher levels of tax revenue,\u201d Mr Donohoe told RT\u00c9 Radio 1\u2019s Today With Claire Byrne program.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe it (employment) will be the single biggest driver of how we get our economy growing again and close the gap between spending and taxation.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it\u2019s still the case that, budget by budget by budget, there will still be decisions that will need to be made that won\u2019t be easy, that will need to be defended, and that will also play the final part in the jigsaw in closing this gap.\u201d <\/p>\n
Mr Donohoe also said he expects a recommendation by the end of the week on whether the Government will decide to extend the interval between the first and second doses of the Covid-19 vaccines.<\/p>\n
The Government is awaiting advice on extending the interval from four weeks to some 12 weeks.<\/p>\n
The National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) is currently examining the merits of changing the current vaccination program to help speed up the rollout.<\/p>\n
\u201cEffective vaccinations is the key thing within our country, we\u2019re on track to do that,\u201d Mr Donohoe said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur vaccination strategy is working. We vaccinated 140,000 of our citizens last week, it\u2019ll be 170,000 at least this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are questions in relation to the deterioration of the vaccination dividend, and there\u2019s also questions we have to tease out then regarding what impact this will have and how long we have to run our vaccination program.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo there is undoubtedly some important benefits of a single dose, but are also consequences to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, HSE chief executive Paul Reid said hospital admission numbers have significantly reduced from a peak earlier this year.<\/p>\n
He tweeted: \u201cThe most important target of the vaccination program is reducing sickness, hospitalizations, ICU and mortality.<\/p>\n
\u201cThankfully our Covid-19 hospitalizations are now down to 179 from a peak of over 2,000, and ICU down to 46.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s not lose sight of the ultimate aim.\u201d<\/p>\n