ESRI chief: Government faces 'huge call' over the €350-a-week Covid-19 jobs payment

The Government faces "a huge judgment call" over maintaining the €350 a week pandemic payment as it juggles the long-term demands on the public purse and the desire to maintain household incomes for as long as possible during the Covid-19 crisis, the head of the Economic and Social Research has said.

In an interview, professor Alan Barrett, chief executive of the country’s leading think tank, also highlighted that the low skilled, the young, and women working from home during the pandemic could emerge from the crisis as the worst affected in terms of equality.