One thing for certain, no matter what the Govt was going to do here, they were on a hiding. Do nothing, they will be criticised, do something, for better or for worse, they will be criticised. We are, after all, a nation of begrudgers
In terms of cost, 200000 staff getting this payment will cost the state around €200m. A chunk of that will be recovered in tax, PRSI and USC so the real cost is likely to be somewhere between €125m and €150m. A lot of money no doubt, but to put it in context, it would buy you a wing(maybe) of the new childrens hospital or 41 train carriages or a third of the price of the Adare by pass. All of that money will be spent as well so there will be an increase in consumption, demand and VAT as a result, reducing the cost to the state by even more.
In terms of the private sector, as a manager, I already had a full quota of staff booked off for that day and I was never expecting it to be the most productive day of the year. It's cost us 0.4% of our capacity output but it won't impact on our orders as we'll play catch up the following week. In the great scheme of things, it might cost us a few hours overtime but that will be it, not the end of the world as some people seem to be suggesting.
It's also going to be a massive boost for the holiday sector which will also give a welcome tax return to the state coffers so many businesses will probably make money as a result of this