New restricted opening hours are being introduced an Intreo centres around the country.
The offices are run by the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection, aimed at helping provide employment and income supports to jobseekers and employers.
The Department says over the last three weeks they've faced unprecedented demand for income supports due to the coronavirus crisis.
However, the vast majority of applications are online and the footfall into public offices has reduced dramatically.
From today, the offices will open from 10am to 1pm on Fridays, Mondays and Wednesdays and close on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
It's said to be an emergency temporary measure and will be kept under review.
In a statement, the Department said: "In the interests of continuing to observe the strict public health advice and to safeguard both our customers and our staff, the Department will be reducing our Intreo Centre public opening hours with effect from Friday 3rd April.
"This decision has been taken to ensure that we focus our resources on processing the thousands of applications we receive as quickly as possible.
"This includes increasing our ability to engage directly with those customers’ whose applications contained incorrect information and we therefore have not been able to put into payment."
The Government has said nearly 300,000 COVID-19 related income supports have now been processed and paid, with the number increasing daily.
