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The Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme will continue until the end of the year at an additional cost of €2 billion, though there may be changes to employers’ PRSI, Ministers signalled. As expected, the PUP, which has seen workers who lost their jobs receive weekly payments greater than normal social welfare levels, is to be gradually wound down from September onwards.
However, Taoiseach Micheál Martin rejected the criticism, dismissing the charge that the Government was introducing austerity policies. He said the plan unveiled was “the opposite of austerity”. Other Opposition parties echoed the austerity charge.The Government also signalled that it would reform the Local Property Tax, bringing thousands of homeowners who have bought houses since 2013 and were previously exempt – about 100,000 of them – into the tax net.