One in 16 Irish jobs have been wiped out in just four days.

COVID-19 has destroyed ten years of economic recovery with more than 140,000 laid off .

Bosses have been urged to keep paying workers €203 a week - and get the cash back from the State.

“Employers will be able to recoup the money within weeks,” Social Protection Minister Regina Doherty pledged.

Her department dealt with 20,000 applications on Friday.

“Details of how employers can get reimbursed will be announced tomorrow (Wednesday),” she said.

(Image: Gareth Chaney Collins)

Tens of thousands of further job losses are inevitable.

The next to be hit will be service sectors like travel, hairdressing and the beauty sector.

Ryanair will ground most of its fleet in the next ten days.

The budget airline is freezing recruitment and suspending some contracts.

It’s also reducing working hours and payments and introducing voluntary leave options.

The Peter Mark chain is temporarily shutting down north and south of the border.

The pub trade with 50,000 job losses, the restaurant sector (70,000) and another 20,000 working in childcare are hardest hit so far.

But thousands more will be laid off in the coming days.

Queues formed outside Intreo offices around the country - despite strong advice to use the post to maintain social distancing.

Many filing into Social Protection offices yesterday were clutching new fast track emergency payment forms.

The Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment is for anyone whose employer can’t pay.

The payment is for employees and the self-employed now out of work due to the pandemic.

They will get €203 per week for up to 6 weeks when other payments will kick in.

A simple version of the jobseekers’ form is now on the Department of Social Protection website.

This must downloaded, filled out and returned by post.

Additional staff were still being trained yesterday to process payments.

However, the scheme was expected to be fully operational by late on Monday.

At the same time employers are being urged to pay workers at least the Jobseekers’ rate of €203 a week during the six week period.

They can claim a refund for these payments at a later date.

Refunds are expected to take some time to process but it will be weeks rather than months.

Banks will provide working capital finance in the form of overdrafts, or short-term loans to cover costs, Minister Doherty said.

There is also another special payment for those forced to stay at home because of COVID-19.

The €305 Enhanced Illness Benefit is available when a worker is told to self-isolate by a doctor or has been diagnosed with the virus.

They must be absent from their work and are not being paid by their employer.

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It will be paid for two weeks when the person is just self-isolating.

However, in cases where the person has the virus it will be a paid for the duration of their illness and their absence from work.