Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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2036. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the full year cost of increasing the 85% Christmas welfare bonus to 100%; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27689/17]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The Christmas Bonus was abolished in 2009, partially reintroduced in 2014 with the payment of a 25% Bonus, and increased to a 75% Bonus payment in 2015. Last December, an 85% Bonus was paid 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 for all or most of their income.

The 85% Bonus paid last year cost €221 million. The cost of a 100% Bonus is estimated to cost approximately €267 million in 2017. It should be noted that this cost is subject to change over the coming months in the context of emerging trends and associated revision of the estimated numbers of recipients for December 2017.

There is no provision in the 2017 Revised Estimates for the payment of a Christmas Bonus. Any decision taken regarding the payment of a Bonus in 2017 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.