Almost 277,700 people will receive the Pandemic Unemployment Payment this week - a fall of just over 28,500 from last week's figure of 306,220, according to the latest figures from the Department of Social Protection.
Claimants will be getting a double payment to cover both this week and next week, when no payment will be processed due to holiday period.
The total cost of this week's payment and next week's advanced payment is €160m. A further 16,600 people closed their claims over the last seven days in order to return to work. Latest Business stories