The Food Support Program covers 1.2 million of the poorest households with monthly incomes of up to Rs2,000 per family $ A system of needs testing has been adopted for the identification of beneficiaries by linking the program with the zakat system. The zakat program that targets widows, orphans and the disabled has been strengthened.
As a result of the pandemic we have seen over one million people in receipt of state income support. Alongside the domestic economic shock, Ireland remains sensitive to global developments, both the near-term global downturn and financial market conditions as well as any longer-term structural changes that might be triggered by the experience of the pandemic.