Tens of thousands of people who have lost their jobs as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic are due to receive their first benefit payment today.
It is just two weeks since the Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment was introduced. Almost 400,000 people have applied for the payment.
Around 300,000 people have qualified for the emergency payment and the majority of these will receive the payment in their bank account today.
However, almost 100,000 applications have been deemed invalid. The Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection said that over 66,000 duplicate applications were received.