HEATHER SAYS WERE STILL OK .
The Minister for Social Protection has said she will be seeking an extension to the Pandemic Unemployment Payment until the summer.
Heather Humphreys has said that the Government "will not be found wanting" in assisting those who are out of work.
Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, she said that she will seek an extension of payments at current levels from 31 March to the summer.
The minister said: "We have to be realistic and realise these restrictions are going to be with us for some time to come yet."
The minister said that to date €6 billion has been paid on the PUP to date and €4.5 billion on the wage subsidy scheme.
She said that it is a challenge but the Government will continue to support those who have lost jobs through no fault of their own.
Meanwhile, more than 481,000 people will receive the PUP this week, an increase of almost 1,700 or 0.35% over last week's figures, according to the Department of Social Protection.
These figures do not include 188,543 people who were on the Live Register at the end of January.
When PUP recipients and those on the Live Register are combined, just under 670,000 people currently out of work are entirely dependent on the State for income support.
Over the last seven days, 8,273 people closed their PUP claims to return to work. This week's PUP payments will cost €144.6m.
The highest number of PUP recipients in in Dublin (149,534), followed by Cork (49,195) and Galway (25,603).
A number of counties saw a fall in PUP claims over the last week, including Cavan, Donegal, Limerick, Louth, Monaghan, Offaly and Westmeath.
The numbers in Mayo remain the same this week as last week (13,150).
The sectors with the highest number of PUP claims are Accommodation and Food Service activities (111,872), Wholesale and Retail Trade (76,606) and Construction (62,902), with Construction seeing the largest increase in claims.
According to the Department of Social Protection statistics, around 50% of PUP recipients are on the maximum rate of €350 per week.
Minister Humphreys said the number of new PUP claims as continuing to level off, with fewer people applying for the payment.
"There are seven counties with less people on PUP this week than last week. It is also encouraging to see that over 8,000 more people have closed their PUP applications in the past seven days stating that they are doing so to return to work," she said.
"The enormous sacrifices made by people are paying dividends. They are helping greatly to suppress the virus as well as helping to ease the intense pressure that our frontline workers are under as they work tirelessly to care for those infected by the virus."
Minister Humphreys reminded people of other financial supports available from her department, including assistance with heating costs and rent supplement.
Meanwhile 7,149 currently are receiving Enhanced Illness Benefit, either because they have contracted Covid-19, or because they have been medically certified to self-isolate on a precautionary basis.
