People in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment are set to see their income cut again within days.
The phasing out of the PUP continues as the social welfare benefit comes to an end in April.
Thousands of people continue to receive the payment that was introduced in March 2020 in response to Covid-19.
However, these members of the public are set to see their income slashed once again.
From March 8, anyone still in receipt of the PUP will move to a weekly rate of €208.
This will apply to those individuals who earned €400 or more before the pandemic.
This announcement was made by the Department of Social Protection on January 21 in light of the easing of Covid restrictions.
Following the changes in less than a week's time, a final plan for the PUP will come into effect on April 5.
From that date, PUP recipients will start transitioning to standard jobseeker terms, and if eligible, will move onto a jobseeker payment.
The most up to date figures show that around 67,000 people are still claiming the payment.
As of February 8, over €9.1 billion paid in PUP to date.
Commenting last month, Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys said: "Without doubt, the PUP has acted as a vital support since the onset of this pandemic, having cushioned the incomes of hundreds of thousands of workers.
“In fact, over €9.1 billion has been paid out in PUP payments since the support was introduced.
“With the economy now fully reopen, it is welcome to see the number of people receiving the PUP fall over the past seven days, with further decreases expected in the weeks to come.
“In the meantime, we will continue to roll-out the suite of supports under the government’s Pathways to Work Strategy, which will be key as we embark on our recovery from Covid-19.”
