Paschal Donohoe warned against cuts to €350 Covid-19 payments

Patricia King, the head of the Irish Congress Trade Unions (ICTU)

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, as the number of people receiving some sort of government payment amid the Covid-19 economic crisis reached a record of more than 1.27m.

She said the matter should be left to any new government and the economy was too fragile. Any new government needs a new social income system and any talk of cutting the €350 weekly payment “should be off the agenda”, Ms King told the Irish Examiner.