Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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348. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection for the avoidance of doubt could she provide the full list of payments which will receive the Christmas bonus along with the respective dates of disbursement; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53234/23]

Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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352. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection in relation to the Christmas bonus, if she is aware of any concerns that the large number of different categories for social welfare payments, and the requirement for a specific type of payment to be listed amongst those eligible for the bonus, could result in some people unintendedly not receiving this payment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53292/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 348 and 352 together.

I was pleased to announce that a 100% Christmas Bonus will once again be paid this year to over 1.3 million recipients of long-term social welfare payments.

The Christmas Bonus is paid to pensioners, people with disabilities, carers, lone parents and long-term unemployed people in recognition of their long-term financial dependence on their social welfare payment for all, or most, of their income.

The list of schemes which are eligible to receive the Christmas Bonus, along with respective payment dates is below. Please note, for some payments customers will receive their payment on different days of the week and will receive the Christmas Bonus payment on whichever day they usually get paid during the week commencing 4th December 2023.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Cost-of-Living Payment announced in Budget 2024 is payable to a person who is a carer under Section 224(1) of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act, 2005 and who on 27 November 2023 is still providing care to a relevant person under Section 224(1) of the Principal Act.

To qualify for the Cost-of-Living Payment, a carer must

• Have received or be eligible for the Carer’s Support Grant for 2023 and
• Be providing full-time care and attention to a relevant person on week commencing 27 November 2023 and satisfy the qualifying conditions for receipt of Carer’s Support Grant

• Be aged 16 or over and ordinarily resident in this State
• Care for the person on a full-time basis
• Care for the person for a continuous period of at least six months – this period must include the first Thursday in June (1^stJune 2023)
• Live with the person being looked after, or this person can be contacted quickly by a direct system of communication (i.e., a telephone or alarm)
• Not be employed / self-employed for more than 18.5 hours per week
• Not be in receipt of, or entitled to receive Jobseeker’s Allowance or Jobseeker’s Benefit or be signing for credited contributions

• Be so incapacitated as to need full-time care and attention
• Not normally live in a hospital, convalescent home, or another similar institution
• Not receive full-time care and attention within their own home from another person other than the person claiming the Grant