Just two months ago, Ireland was cited as a model for successfully tackling unemployment. However, since then, the Covid-19 virus has wreaked havoc on the labour force - at huge financial, personal and emotional cost.
After peaking at almost 16% in February 2012, by the end of February this year the Government had driven that unemployment rate down to around 4.8% - below the EU average.
But thanks to the virus, it's all gone horribly wrong - and yesterday's latest unemployment figures tell the story. 598,000 people are now receiving the €350 Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) - an increase of 7,000 on the previous week - and an extraordinary figure considering the payment was only launched on 16 March.