asked the Minister for Social Welfare if a full double Christmas bonus will be paid to social welfare recipients in 1987 and if not, to what extent; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
11.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Christmas Bonus.
7.
asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he intends making a bonus payment to social welfare recipients at Christmas this year; if so the amount which will be paid; the categories to whom it will be paid; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
13.
asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he has provided £19 million in his Estimate for 1987 to pay the Christmas bonus to certain people in receipt of social welfare entitlements; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
It is proposed to take Questions Nos. 7, 11 and 13 together.
Provision has not been included in the 1987 Estimates of Social Welfare expenditure for the payment of a Christmas bonus this year. The question of such a payment is a matter which will be considered by the Government later in the year. This has always been the position in previous years.
In considering the payment of a Christmas bonus the Minister should try to be selective and make the payments to the needy groups rather than making them across the board. He should consider paying the needy a higher bonus than heretofore and avoid paying a bonus to those who have incomes other than their social welfare pensions. He should try to avoid paying a bonus to those who have three or four pensions.
The Deputy will be aware that the Christmas bonus payment was extended in 1985 to include the long-term unemployed and I presume that is one of the categories he has in mind. I will consider the points raised by the Deputy.
There is a need for selectivity in regard to this bonus. The payment of the Christmas bonus in recent years has been an emotional issue in the House because it was felt that those who received it were in need. However, I am aware of people who are on pensions amounting to about £30,000 annually from the banks getting a Christmas bonus because they qualify for an old age pension from the State. Will the Minister agree, given the position of the Exchequer and the fact that there are needy groups in our society, that we should not be giving the bonus across the board? Will he agree we should be more selective and give more to those in real need?
Will the Minister agree that if such a bonus is to be paid it will require a budget later this year?
I do not know if it could be called a budget. The payment of the bonus never created any problems in previous years. The figures are normally taken in conjunction with the end of the year returns.
And go into the next year.
Is the Deputy suggesting we should not give the Christmas bonus? The Deputy will have to be on one side or the other. I would like to see the bonus paid, and in that regard I will take into account the points raised by Deputy Mitchell but there may be a difficulty in regard to administration. I take it the House will agree to pay a Christmas bonus to the long-term unemployed, pensioners, widows and other categories of beneficiaries if that is possible. That is the line I will be adopting.
I appreciate that all matters are the subject of Government review but I should like to ask the Minister if he is prepared to state he is in agreement in principle with the idea of a double payment being made to social welfare recipients, the long term unemployed and other categories, at Christmas. I should like to remind the Minister of the motion promoted by Fianna Fáil on 25 November 1986, when they were in Opposition, which called on Dáil Éireann to request the Government to arrange to have the Christmas bonus payment to social welfare recipients made this year on the same basis and at the same rate as it was in 1985.
I must point out to the Deputy that quotations at Question Time are not in order.
I am inviting the Minister to say if he is agreement in principle with the idea of a double payment at Christmas time for those in need.
The Deputy need have no worry about my concern for old age pensioners, widows or the unemployed. I happened to be the Minister who initially introduced the double payment at the end of the year and the Deputy can take it that my interest in that regard would not have changed in the meantime.