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Explainer: Here are the payments you're entitled to if your income is impacted by the coronavirus

The government today announced additional supports.

THE GOVERNMENT TODAY announced a €3.7 billion package to support incomes during the coronavirus outbreak in Ireland.

A new unemployment payment for people who lost earnings because of the Covid-19 outbreak had already been announced, but today the level of payment was increased and measures to help employers to maintain their wage payments were also announced. 

Here’s what it means:

If you’ve lost your job because of the outbreak:

You are entitled to the Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment. This payment has now been increased to €350 per week, for a period of 12 weeks. You can apply for it here

You will need:

  • basic Mygovid account (all you need is an e-mail address and password )
  • Your personal details
  • Your bank details (only Irish banks, Revolut and N26 accounts supported)

People who have been put on part-time or casual work or had their hours reduced, can also apply for this payment. 

If you are self-employed and have lost work because of the outbreak:

You are also entitled to the Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment of €350 per week. You can apply here. 

If your employer can’t afford to keep paying your full wage but is not laying you off:

Your employer can avail of the new temporary wage subsidy announced today. Under this scheme, the government will pay up to a maximum of €410 per employee, per week, to help affected companies keep paying their workers. 

Your employer can top this amount up to bring the level to your usual wage, or closer to it.

If you have been told to self-isolate by a doctor or have been diagnosed with Covid-19 after a test:

You can apply for the Covid-19 illness payment, which was also increased today to €350 per week. 

There are three ways to make an application:

  • you can call 1890 800 024 or 01 2481398 between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday to get an application form by post
  • organise someone (who’s not supposed to be self-isolating too) to pick up a form at your doctor’s surgery or at your local Intreo Centre
  • you can request a form to be posted to you by sending an email to forms@welfare.ie

If you are living with a confirmed case and are told by public health officials to self-isolate:

You will now also be entitled to a €350 a week payment, if this self-isolation is preventing you from working. 

If you are collecting a State pension:

Your payment levels will not increase, but the government has arranged for people to receive their payments every fortnight, instead of weekly, so you can reduce the number of trips to the Post Office. 

More than 400,000 workers have already been affected by the pandemic. Minister for Social Protection Regina Doherty said today that it is almost impossible to predict the scale of employment loss.

“But they will be significant in the short term and that is why we need to present immediate solutions which will meet the scale of that challenge,” she said.

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    Mute Jp Vaughan
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    May 18th 2019, 7:23 AM

    “At a cost of 32 million to the exchequer” Should say at a cost of 32 million to PRSI paying employees and self employed.
    Government is very quick to take our taxes but they nearly begrudge us getting anything back for it, lol

    624
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    Mute Dave Barrett
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    May 18th 2019, 7:30 AM

    @Jp Vaughan: its not about what you can get back but what more will go into their pay off’ s and their pension. That gives them something to smile about.

    114
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    Mute Julie Grey
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    May 18th 2019, 8:10 AM

    @Jp Vaughan: I was thinking the very same thing!!

    54
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    Mute Peter Buchanan
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    May 18th 2019, 7:25 AM

    “your PRSI” – therefore the scale & polish is not ‘free’ rather it has been ‘pre-paid’ When you get something from the government it is not free, it has been paid for by taxpayers

    455
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    Mute Lucille Ball
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    May 18th 2019, 8:32 AM

    @Peter Buchanan: absolutely and remember we used to get money off fillings and extractions but the government annihilated those services in 2010 just leaving the dental check up.. cute wh0res are FGFF, we are paying for these services out of our own money anyway

    160
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    Mute Lobert Rester
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    May 18th 2019, 11:29 AM

    After loosing my job in 2013 I went back to college to educate and up skill myself, completed a 4 year degree and gained immediate full time employment, to told at the dentist you need to be in 5 years full time employment to avail of the free visit, I guess the previous 19 years employment didn’t count.

    72
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    Mute tommytukamomo
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    May 18th 2019, 11:37 AM

    @Lobert Rester: Well done you and best wishes for the future.
    The ironic thing is that a workshy politician only has to spend a few months to qualify for pension and benefits.
    Good old Ireland.

    55
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    Mute Faixa Roxa
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    May 18th 2019, 7:30 AM

    Lisa need braces

    53
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    Mute shellakybooky
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    May 18th 2019, 7:46 AM

    @Faixa Roxa: dental plan

    45
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    Mute et
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    May 18th 2019, 8:11 AM

    @Faixa Roxa: €4000-5000

    10
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    Mute et
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    May 18th 2019, 8:11 AM

    @Faixa Roxa: €4000-5000

    1
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    Mute Lucille Ball
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    May 18th 2019, 8:33 AM

    @Faixa Roxa: some orthodontists do payment plans.. ring around, I did

    6
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    Mute dan
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    May 18th 2019, 8:41 AM

    @Faixa Roxa: these braces are painless, invisible and periodically emit a delightful burst of Calvin Klein “obsession ” for teeth..

    10
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    Mute dan
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    May 18th 2019, 8:42 AM

    @dan: we don’t have a dental plan right now..
    ” these braces predate stainless steel, so you can’t get them wet”

    17
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    Mute 5hbeZh0I
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    May 18th 2019, 10:55 AM

    @Faixa Roxa: for God’s sake will someone please think of the children

    9
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    Mute Sarah
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    May 18th 2019, 10:58 AM

    So government provides people services with their (the people’s) own money – (while conveniently not mentioning the billions they waste on pet projects and privatising national resources) – and pats themselves on the back for being generous #voteffg

    47
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    Mute Paul Freeman
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    May 18th 2019, 11:01 AM

    Not really free.

    39
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    Mute Lorr
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    May 18th 2019, 5:54 PM

    @Paul Freeman: agreed still cost me €30 for my ‘free’ scale and polish

    11
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    Mute Yam Crum
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    May 18th 2019, 8:51 AM

    If you are in a position get any part of it back from the taxes youve paid, all the better, but don’t put off that trip to the dentist any longer; untreated periodontal disease is linked to multiple other problems from Alzheimer’s disease to male infertility. (I’m a sufferer, with no connections to a dentist apart from the bills!)

    38
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    Mute Dr Richard Lee Kin
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    May 18th 2019, 10:39 AM

    @Yam Crum: well done for highlighting the links between gum disease & our general health

    36
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    Mute Tim McCormack29
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    May 18th 2019, 11:25 AM

    Free dental check is loved by dentists to get you in the door so that further expensive treatment can be identified and recommended.

    31
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    Mute Will Rymer
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    May 18th 2019, 12:42 PM

    @Tim McCormack29: you show your dentist by staying home with rotten teeth. That’ll show the money grabbers.

    17
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    Mute Pat Finnegan
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    May 18th 2019, 1:45 PM

    @Tim McCormack29: The kind of freebie known in many professions as “the sprat to catch a mackerel” :-)

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    Mute John Paul
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    May 18th 2019, 2:09 PM

    @Tim McCormack29: nonsense. A dentist isn’t going to make up treatment for anybody

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    Mute Tim McCormack29
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    May 18th 2019, 3:24 PM

    @John Paul: Not true.. Panorama in the UK asked people to get a check up and they were first checked that they did not need any work..
    Some dentists found work that “needed” to be done.

    5
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    Mute Rob Cleary
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    May 18th 2019, 9:06 AM

    Only 4,422 people claiming the medical devices …
    Have they not heard about it?

    17
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    Mute Belebop
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    May 18th 2019, 9:21 AM

    @Rob Cleary: They have but there’s a lot who are working who don’t qualify due to their PRSI status such as civil and public servants on older pay arrangements.

    28
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    Mute Rob Cleary
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    May 18th 2019, 11:35 AM

    @Belebop: sorry what?

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    Mute Belebop
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    May 18th 2019, 10:35 PM

    @Rob Cleary: Did you not know? There’s thousands of public, semi state and civil servants who pay either partial or no PRSI. Their jobs were seen as jobs for life back in the day, therefore no requirement to contribute. If they got sick they would get full pay, reducing as per length of illness it was part of their service contracts. Sounds great but in reality long term illness led to many retuning to little or no pay for weeks. The system was abolished in recent years with changes to the pay scales of new entrants to the service. All pre1995 and most post 95 pay no PRSI, reducing to a small number of post 2003 workers. Everyone after that pays PRSI so can avail of the schemes.

    3
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    Mute Rob Cleary
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    May 19th 2019, 12:06 PM

    @Belebop: sorry what, can you speak up?

    3
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    Mute Seeking Truth
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    May 18th 2019, 9:57 AM

    It is great to finally get something back in direct relation to the PRSI taxes taken out every month.

    16
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    Mute tommytukamomo
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    May 18th 2019, 11:30 AM

    Crumbs from the swill trough to keep the peasants happy while the pigs bury their snouts .

    25
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    Mute sequoia
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    May 18th 2019, 10:13 AM

    They base it on your peso payments from two years ago, don’t they?

    So your payments in the last year are. It counted. If you were out of work or contracting, then tough, gotta pay up yourself.

    10
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    Mute Harry Trafford
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    May 18th 2019, 12:56 PM

    Can my wife claim from my PRSI?

    9
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    Mute Aisling Pender
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    May 19th 2019, 1:41 AM

    @Harry Trafford: yes

    4
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    Mute databackup
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    Feb 23rd 2020, 5:19 PM

    Everyone should take advantage of this its good to get something back.

    https://www.sisuclinic.com/blogs/teeth-whitening-dublin-best-and-cheapest

    1
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