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.

Unemployment benefit, carers benefit, the Family Income Supplement and Disability Benefit are among the welfare payments to increase in the coming days.

But the increases in child benefit of €8 for each of the first two children and €10 for the third and every other child will not come on line until April.

Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats are continuing to hone in on the so called "grey vote" by vowing to increase the pension to €200 during the lifetime of the present administration.

But, according to Fine Gael, people dependent on welfare payments will suffer in 2003 as the increases do not keep pace with inflation.

The Labour Party said the €6 increase in social welfare payments was "shocking" and that the Government has effectively frozen the incomes of families of the poorest children.

The St Vincent de Paul Society described the social welfare increase as shameful.

The Children's Rights Alliance said promises made on child benefit must be kept, as it is the main financial support for families with children and the key to the Government's plan to end child poverty.

The Community Platform, representing voluntary groups, said the social welfare increases were a disgrace and that Mr McCreevy was only paying lip service.

The social welfare increases introduced in this month's Budget will cost €530m over the course of the year, according to Mr McCreevy.

In 2003, €10.2 billion will be spent by the Department of Social and Family Affairs - an increase of 80% in six years.

The average increase in weekly payments will be over €33m a month, according to a department spokesman, but that does not include the extra child benefit payments.