John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this serious matter for debate. I speak on behalf of people who, in many cases, have never been out of work before and who now find themselves suffering financial hardship and pressure for the first time. These are the people who helped to build the Celtic tiger in the last 15 or 20 years but are described in one newspaper headline today as the new poor.

Many of them have lost their jobs in the last six months and are in receipt of jobseeker's benefit. There are several problems in this regard. First, because of the large number of people affected in this way, there is an ever-increasing delay in processing the claims, with waiting times of up to 12 weeks in some parts of the State. Second, and this is the main point of tonight's debate, a person must be in receipt of jobseeker's benefit for more than 390 days to qualify for the Christmas bonus payment. Many of those unfortunate enough to find themselves in these circumstances have paid their taxes, levies and pension contributions throughout their working lives and are simply looking for a helping hand in their hour of need. In other words, in order to help them over the Christmas period, all they seek is payback for the contributions they have made to the State.

For example, a constituent of mine, aged 32 years, was made redundant in May for the first time. She was angry and disaffected to discover some weeks ago that the Christmas bonus covers other categories of unemployed but not her own, even though she has never before received a cent from the State. She can be forgiven for being angry and baffled, having worked all her life and paid tax and social welfare to support the Exchequer, that she is less entitled to this payment than someone who is long-term unemployed or in receipt of the back to work allowance. She remarked in an e-mail to me last week that the State does not owe her anything and that she has no desire to milk the system. All she wants is payback for the contributions she made over the years now that she is in a time of need. She has made every effort to get a job since being made redundant and she demands equity with other unemployed groups.

For young people in particular who have been in employment all their working lives, it is shocking to find themselves out of work and discriminated against in that they are unable to claim benefits that are available to people who have not made as great a contribution to the State. Many of them are finding it impossible to pay ESB and gas bills, bin charges and so on, while others who have never been in employment are entitled to the bonus. It has been suggested that such persons may seek assistance from their local community welfare officer. However, is it reasonable to expect that community welfare officers throughout the State will have the resources to help everybody in this position? It would be far better to ensure equality in the social welfare system by providing the Christmas bonus to those in receipt of the jobseeker's benefit.

Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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I am taking this Adjournment matter on behalf my colleague, the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Deputy Hanafin. The Christmas bonus is paid to all recipients of long-term social welfare payments. The payment was made during the first week of December, at an estimated cost of €201 million. Some 1.3 million persons, comprising 940,000 recipients and 400,000 dependants, benefited from the payment.

The focus of the bonus has always been on persons who rely on the social welfare system for financial support in the long term. These include recipients of State pension, transition; State pension, contributory and non-contributory; blind pension; widow's, widower's and invalidity pensions; guardian's payment, contributory and non-contributory; one-parent family payment; carer's benefit and allowance; disability allowance; jobseeker's allowance in respect of a continuous period of unemployment of at least 15 months in duration; pre-retirement allowance; farm assist and people in receipt of employment support payments. The bonus is also payable to recipients of certain income support payments administered by the Departments of Health and Children, Education and Science and Enterprise, Trade and Employment. It is also payable to participants in the rural social scheme, which was introduced in 2004, and operates under the aegis of the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs.

The estimated cost of extending the payment to recipients of jobseekers benefit is an additional €33 million. There are no plans at present to amend or extend entitlement to the bonus payment to these schemes and any such extension could only be considered in a budgetary context having regard to the resources available and the significant cost which would be involved.

John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Does the Minister think that is fair?

Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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Supplementary welfare is available. It is the prerogative of supplementary welfare officers to provide it with regard to any particular hardship affecting a family or any bill payments that need to be made.

John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The Minister is a fair minded person. Does he think it is fair?