Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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155. To ask the Minister for Social Protection to set out the cost of providing a 50%, 75% and 100% Christmas bonus in 2016; if he has provided for a Christmas bonus in his Revised Estimates; how European Union and national fiscal rules impact on the ability to pay a Christmas bonus in 2016; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16496/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Christmas Bonus was abolished in 2009. The Bonus was partially reintroduced in 2014 with the payment of a 25% Bonus. A 75% Bonus was paid last December to some 1.2 million long-term social welfare recipients, including pensioners, people with disabilities, carers and the long-term unemployed, in recognition of their financial dependence on their social welfare payments.

The cost of a 50%, 75% and 100% Bonus is estimated to cost approximately €133 million, €200 million and €267 million respectively. It should be noted that these costings are subject to change over the coming months in the context of emerging trends and associated revision of the estimated numbers of recipients for December 2016.

There is no provision in 2016 Revised Estimates for the payment of a Christmas Bonus. I will be seeking approval from my Government colleagues in the coming months for the payment of a Christmas Bonus this year.

Any decision taken regarding the payment of a Bonus will have to be consistent with the legal requirements set out in the Fiscal Responsibility Acts 2012 and 2013, and within the context of achieving the targets set for Ireland by the EU rules.