Fewer people receiving PUP payment in NW . . . but will that continue?



The number of people in the north west receiving the Pandemic Unemployment Payment continues to fall.

Nationally, the overall number getting the payment is now 85% below what it was in May of last year, when the virus was at its peak.

On Tuesday of this week, 950 people were receiving the payment in Sligo, down from 1002 the previous week.

In Leitrim, 510 people got the payment last Tuesday, a drop of 17 in a week.

By far the greatest number of PUP recipients in the north west are in Donegal — 2,675 this week, 124 fewer than the week before.

There has also been dramatic falls in the numbers receiving the payment since the peak in infection numbers in February 2021 and May 2020.

Donegal saw a drop from 22,594 to 16,421 in that period; in Leitrim there was a drop from 4,044 to 2,982.

The smallest fall in the numbers in the north west getting the payment from the two peak times was in Sligo, dropping from 7,725 in May 2020 to 6,018 in February this year.

The question now is: Will the number of people receiving the payment continue to fall as Covid case numbers and hospitalisations rise again.



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