The Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation in conjunction with the Department of Finance and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform have released a paper; Economic Considerations for Reinstating Economic Activity, which provides an assessment of the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic focusing on those sectors of the economy that have been most heavily impacted. Read the paper here.

The report highlights that the most heavily impacted sectors are accommodation and food, construction, administrative and support services, wholesale & retail trade, and other personal services. Other sectors where the impacts are significant but somewhat less severe (“medium impact”) include the manufacturing sector, and transport and storage. This pattern of sectoral impacts is similar to that observed in other countries; sectors where remote working is not feasible or that require personal contact with consumers are hugely exposed to the necessary travel and other restrictions that containment of the virus requires.