Vol. 413 No. 3
35 Mr. Noonan (Limerick East) asked the Minister for Social Welfare (1) the total cost to the Exchequer arising from the payment of the Christmas bonus to certain persons in receipt of social welfare payments and (2) the reason this recurring item of expenditure is not included in the budgetary arithmetic in the ordinary way; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
The cost of this year's Christmas bonus of 70 per cent of normal weekly payments is estimated at £28 million. It will be paid during the first week in December 1991 at post offices and local offices of my Department and will benefit a total of almost one million persons, namely, 620,000 recipients and their estimated 360,000 dependants.
Traditionally, no provision has been made for the cost of the Christmas bonus in either the annual estimates or at budget time. This arrangement has enabled the Government to determine the level of the bonus and the means of financing it in the light of the emerging budgetary situation during the year. The question as to whether provision for the bonus should be included in the budgetary arithmetic is a matter for consideration at the appropriate time.
