Irish COVID-19 jobless claims climb to 75,648

DUBLIN (Reuters) - The number of people in Ireland claiming temporary coronavirus-related jobless benefits rose by 8,743 compared with last week, government data showed on Wednesday.

The total number of people claiming the Pandemic Unemployment Payment for the period Dec. 31 to Jan. 6 was 75,648.

Ireland temporarily reopened its Pandemic Unemployment Payment scheme on Dec. 7 for people who lost their jobs as a result of new restrictions on the entertainment sector.

(Reporting by Graham Fahy; Editing by Leslie Adler)