The Christmas Bonus will be paid to more than 1.2 million social welfare recipients from Monday - the first time in a decade it has been fully restored. "Benefitting all recipients of long-term social welfare payments including carers, people with disabilities, pensioners, and lone parents, the bonus is timed to assist people with the extra expenses occurred over Christmas. In total, a Christmas bonus will be paid across 30 different welfare payments to 1,213,130 recipients. Christmas bonus payments were partially restored in 2014, after being axed in the Emergency Budget in April 2009. Last September Minister Doherty said there was no intention of discontinuing the Christmas bonus for any social welfare recipient and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar confirmed the money would be paid.

Source: Evening echo November 30, 2018 17:15 UTC