Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe has said that the heightened level of pandemic supports will remain in place until the end of January in line with most recent public health restrictions.
Paschal Donohoe said the Government will monitor the current level of restrictions on a daily basis, but that the plan is not to change restrictions before the end of January.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, he said that the Covid Restrictions Support Scheme (CRSS) can be extended up until the end of April and the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) can also be extended to run until April.
These extensions are budgeted for, Mr Donohoe said.
The Minister said that any changes to the schemes depend on the virus, adding that the Government supports are aimed at retaining jobs and helping employers to cope with "the awful economic consequences of the disease".
Minister Donohoe said today that he is optimistic about economic recovery in 2022, with the rollout of 186,000 vaccines in the last two days.
"We will get to a better point in 2022 with this disease and hopefully the exceptional level of supports can decrease and then be removed," he added.
The Finance Minister also said that if the EWSS is continued beyond April, he will look to see whether a legal process can be put in place that sees companies who return large profits in some circumstances return the state supports to the Exchequer.
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He said that the EWSS entry criteria is dependent on turnover and not profitability, as this is the measure that makes it most likely companies would be viable and could keep people at work.
The only way the Revenue can pursue individuals is if they have breached the criteria for entry, and this does not include levels of profitability, he explained.
He said the EWSS has supported 51,800 employers and 699,000 employees at different points, describing it as "an immensely successful policy at keeping work in the country and allowing for recovery".
Minister Donohoe said that many companies had returned a profit because they could continue to trade while availing of the EWSS.
Paschal Donohoe said that he would examine whether changes are needed to the scheme and it is hoped "to phase it out in 2022".
The chief executive of business group Ibec, Danny McCoy, told Morning Ireland that he expected the supports would be in place at least until April.
"It's unlikely they would be withdrawn in a cliff edge, so I would anticipate that it would at least to April to be in place to help transition hopefully back to a post-pandemic scenario in 2022," he said.
He believed there would likely be casualties in the commercial sector as supports are unwound, but he said that most companies were in a good position in that demand in the economy wasn't the problem.
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"Companies are finding the supply side is the problem - getting workers and materials - rather than a lack of demand."
"Clearly in hospitality and the experience economy, they can't get to their customers easily but demand is there," he explained.
However, he warned that close contact could become an issue for workers, particularly in manufacturing, as omicron spreads.
Mr McCoy said if there was 'egregious' behaviour when it came to companies availing of supports while making big profits or paying large dividends, such behaviour should be called out and acted upon.
"It's more important that we get to the businesses that need those supports. We can come back in time to some of the behaviours that let the business community down," he said.
