Belated Christmas gift for welfare recipients

SOCIAL WELFARE recipients will receive a belated Christmas present worth €33m from Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy next month.

The majority of the welfare benefit increases, announced in the Budget, will kick in next week with 400,000 people receiving extra cash.

A further 630,000 people, including around 300,000 pensioners, will receive their increases in mid-February, with the raise fully backdated to January.