UK chancellor Rishi Sunak unveiled an additional £30bn (€33.3bn) stimulus to the British economy to fend off a potential jobs crisis that includes a bonus for employers for every job they keep, a cut in Vat for restaurants, and a €10 voucher to encourage people to eat out this summer.

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe has said that the Covid-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme will not end abruptly and hinted that it could last until the end of the year.

Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe has said that the Covid Wage Subsidy Scheme will not end abruptly and hinted that it could last until the end of the year.

Unemployment will return to its pre-Covid-19 levels in late 2023 and only then if there is no new outbreak of the disease, while house building will be severely disrupted for a number of years, the Central Bank has predicted.

Unemployment will return to its pre-Covid-19 levels in late 2023 and only then if there is no new outbreak of the disease, while house building will be severely disrupted for a number of years, the Central Bank has predicted.

The latest exchequer tax returns published this afternoon will go a long way to reassure the new coalition it has the money to extend the Covid-19 unemployment supports and fund its promised stimulus packages without blasting through an indicative €30bn upper ceiling for the budget deficit this year.

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe has signalled caution over the inclusion of 100% State-backed loans in the SME credit guarantee scheme element of the Government’s pending multi-billion stimulus package for the economy.

Over one million Covid-19 emergency loans have been advanced to UK companies that are 100%-guaranteed by the British government, starkly showing the wide gap in supports for firms in the Republic.

Cutting taxes will likely be the least effective way in helping lift the economy out from the Covid-19 jobs crisis because there is no guarantee that people who fear a second wave of pandemic cases won’t just save rather than spend the money, ESRI professor Kieran McQuinn has said.

Concerns are growing that the recovery package promised by Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe will fall short if the firepower fails to match what the British government has delivered for its struggling businesses.

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe’s planned summer Covid-19 recovery package need only cost €2.7bn upfront but could save many thousands of jobs at small firms, according to Ireland’s main business group, Ibec.

Ireland’s main business group Ibec said that the Government's planned summer recovery package for small firms need not stretch to multi-billions and could be pegged to as little as €2.7bn upfront to save many thousands of jobs.

Penneys, Brown Thomas and H&M were among the dozens of retail brands to lobby senior government ministers for a 12-month commercial rates cut, warning that without "urgent and decisive action", retail businesses would close.

Aer Lingus has cut wages by 70% which is the highest wage cut ever seen in Ireland in the 21st century. On top of the wage cut Aer Lingus has imposed changes to work practices and terms and conditions, this includes lay-offs as well as a ban on industrial action including strikes to February 2022.

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe has said that Fine Gael would “argue very firmly” in favour of the Cork-Limerick motorway project while the Green Party’s deputy leader Catherine Martin said that if commitments and investment had already been made then such projects would be likely to go ahead.

IKEA said it will shortly begin talks with the Irish government and eight other countries about returning the financial support they received to support workers during the Covid-19 lockdown.

Fianna Fáil’s finance spokesperson, Michael McGrath, has said that the leadership of his party is not in question and that he expects Micheál Martin to be Taoiseach in the new government.

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe says that there has been "a lot of great work" done, but that agreement has not yet been reached as government talks looked set to go into Monday.

Political Editor Daniel McConnell lifts the lid on what really goes on inside the Cabinet room and some of the backbiting, infighting, distrust, and downright hostility that’s occurred over the last four years

The latest initiative has seen members of the gardaí joining Ballydehob Community Alert Group to give care packs to up to 200 elderly residents.

The Covid-19 pandemic unemployment payment will likely be extended through to the end of the year adding to the costs of the exchequer but the budget deficit may not necessarily balloon more than already feared if early positive signs for tax revenues are realised, a leading economist has said.

The €350 Pandemic Unemployment Payment will become two-tiered from June 29, with people who were earning less than €200 per week before the outbreak of Covid-19 set to drop to €203 per week.

The French economy is set to contract 11% this year due to the coronavirus crisis and more hard days lie ahead until things bounce back next year, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire has said.

Finance minister Pascal Donohoe outlines the unprecedented economic support measures the Government are putting in place to help businesses recover from the pandemic crisis

Special Report: The coronavirus pandemic sparked huge diplomatic and consular efforts to fly home Irish people from all corners of the globe, writes Neil Michael

Women and men left out of the temporary wage subsidy scheme due to maternity or paternity leave will have their payments backdated to March.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said that the country is on track for phase two of the lockdown exit plan but any easing of restrictions cannot be “accelerated unsafely”.

Unions have been campaigning for the increase to go ahead despite the predicted €30bn hole in the state's finances due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

At the moment a glaring anomaly in the Covid-19 legislation means women who are returning to work from maternity leave can not be put on the wage subsidy scheme.

Parents were thrown into further confusion yesterday after the Minister for Education said students would not be returning to school in September as normal.

Leo Varadkar has said the Government will extend the pandemic unemployment payment beyond June 8 but a date for how long it will continue has not been decided yet.

Patricia King, the head of the Irish Congress Trade Unions (ICTU), has warned Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe against cutting the €350 weekly pandemic payment at any time.

Germany will offer Lufthansa a €9bn bailout in return for a 20% stake two decades after the airline was privatised with much fanfare.

The Finance Minister has sent a "clear message" to the banks that mortgage applicants in receipt of the State's Covid-19 wage subsidy payment should not be blocked from drawing down their loans.

The Finance Minister says that he is "very aware" of an anomaly in the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme which has locked women returning from maternity leave out of payments.

There are now 24,251 cases of coronavirus in Ireland.

Paschal Donohoe welcomed a commitment by France and Germany for a €500bn European recovery fund and said this would help support employment here and rebuild the Irish economy.

Banks and some local authorities are preventing people in receipt of the State’s Covid-19 wage subsidy from drawing down their mortgages.

Children's Minister Katherine Zappone will face the Dáil on Wednesday to answer questions on the collapse of the government's proposed childcare scheme for frontline workers.

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe's refusal to sell more shares in three bailed-out banks has seen the taxpayer's stake fall by more than €10 billion in less than two years, it can be revealed.

Unwarranted Fianna Fáil attacks on Fine Gael have “damaged the talks” aimed at forming a government it has been claimed.

The Government will try to stave off any potential legal challenges to the fairness of its Covid-19 welfare payments by raising the standard weekly unemployment payout even as it starts cutting the Covid-19 pandemic payments, according to a trade union think tank.

The Government is open a legal challenge on the basis of the unfairness of its Covid-19 welfare payments and will likely have to raise the standard weekly unemployment payment when it starts reducing the pandemic payments in the coming months, a leading adviser to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, or Ictu, has said.

Sinn Féin says the payments will still be needed in December by up to a quarter of a million people who have been impacted by the coronavirus.