Supporters say it was a remarkable social policy achievement during extraordinary times.
Critics say it was overly generous and acted as a disincentive to work.
Love it or hate it, the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) is no more.
The payment was first introduced as the Covid-19 pandemic struck in March 2020, and was originally intended to be a six-week, short-term measure.
Two years and €9 billion later, the final PUP payments have been issued.
The remaining recipients will transition to jobseekers’ payments from Tuesday, if they are deemed eligible.
The scheme was closed for new applications on 22 January and last week final payments to the remaining 44,747 claimants were processed.
At one stage, the PUP was paid at a flat rate of €350 a week before being restructured and linked to previous earnings.
Read the full RTE report on www.rte.ie
