Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

1268. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated cost of increasing the 85% Christmas bonus for social welfare recipients to 100%; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25600/18]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Last December, an 85% Bonus was paid to some 1.2 million long-term social welfare recipients, including pensioners, people with disabilities, carers, lone parents and the long-term unemployed, at a cost of €218.6 million.

The cost of a 100% Bonus is estimated at circa €257 million in 2018. As was the case in previous years where a Bonus was subsequently paid (2014 to 2017 inclusive), there is no provision in the 2018 Revised Estimates for the payment (at any rate) of a Christmas Bonus in 2018.

Any decision taken regarding the payment of a Bonus in 2018 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.