Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I wish to raise an issue which cannot wait until 9 December. A Christmas bonus has been paid to pensioners and others every year since 1980. In the emergency budget of last April, the Government announced that it would abolish the Christmas bonus and that this year, for the first time in almost 30 years, pensioners and others would not receive the relatively small payment which helps them to buy gifts for their grandchildren, and so on. The Government also voted down a Labour Party motion calling for the restoration of the bonus and identifying the way in which the restoration could be paid for.

Since then, many pensioners have hoped the Government would have a change of heart on this matter. Many pensioners have been encouraged in that by Government backbenchers, who have been telling them there would be a change of heart on this issue before Christmas. If there is to be a change of heart it cannot wait until 9 December because administrative arrangements for payment would have to be put in place before that.

Will the Government have a change of heart on the Christmas bonus? Will it be paid to the country's pensioners this Christmas?

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