Covid spending to be cut before October budget 

Minister for Public Expenditure Michael McGrath: Committed to unwinding pandemic spending as more people return to work. Picture: Gareth Chaney

Covid spending is to be scaled back in the months before October's Budget, but up to €5bn of pandemic-linked spending will be carried into 2022.

At the National Economic Dialogue today, unions and public sector groups will be warned that Covid spending will be reduced in the coming months. Ministers have already been told that their Covid budgets will be wound down as work on Budget 2022 gets underway in the coming days.