Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Over the last couple of years, as the Taoiseach will remember, we started work to restore the Christmas bonus to families in receipt of social welfare payments. As he knows, these payments are incredibly important, particularly at Christmastime, to some of the lowest-income households in the country, for example, a pensioner on €230 per week. It meant having an extra €173 last year to look after Christmas. For a jobseeker on a very modest €188, it made the difference for a Christmas of having an additional €141 in his or her pocket. Earlier this year, the Minister, Deputy Leo Varadkar, announced publicly that he intended to seek Government support for a full payment this year. As the Taoiseach will recall, last year we paid 75%. I assume that it remains the case that the Government intends to make this full payment, but we are now approaching the end of September. It would be helpful for those families and those people planning their future and their Christmas and what they might be able to afford to do if the Taoiseach would confirm that the Christmas bonus will be paid this year. My question is therefore a simple one: will the Government pay the Christmas bonus this year, and if so, will it be a full weekly payment?

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