Ms Jenny Connors:

I thank the Deputy for that question. The Christmas bonus is obviously a budgetary decision every year. The reason for that really is because of the fiscal position. I take the Deputy's point that we have paid the Christmas bonus for the last number of years, but it is not always a 100% Christmas bonus. There are decisions to be taken around that and it is dependent on the fiscal position in year. In terms of making the announcement this year into next year, we cannot then pull back on that so we need to make sure it is fiscally possible.