DUBLIN: Ireland's unemployment rate, including those receiving temporary COVID-19 jobless benefit, fell to 14.7pc at the end of September from 15.3pc a month earlier, data showed on Tuesday.

The jobless rate, which stood at 4.8pc before the crisis, hit a record 28.8pc in early May after 600,000 people claimed the special payment.

Excluding the COVID-19 payments, which are due to expire next April, the unemployment rate rose to 5.4pc in September from 5.2pc in August, Central Statistics Office data showed.