Over half a million people were receiving some form of social welfare income support by the end of March, according to the latest Live Register figures from the Central Statistics Office.
The CSO said that 283,037 people were receiving the €350 weekly Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment, introduced on March 16.
This was on top of the seasonally adjusted Live Register total of 207,200, which was up 24,400 on the February figure. In addition, 25,104 people were benefiting from the Government's Temporary Covid-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme that allows struggling employers to ask the state pay 70% of workers' wages.
A delayed estimate of the unemployment rate, which stood at 4.8% in February, is due to be published next week. The CSO said