Asylum seekers with cars denied Christmas bonus

ASYLUM seekers in the north-east who own a registered car and do not have children did not receive a Christmas bonus payment from community welfare officers, it has emerged.

A senior community welfare officer confirmed that a decision taken regionally meant that the discretionary payment was not paid to car-owning asylum seekers living in accommodation centres in counties Sligo, Donegal and Leitrim.

John Kennedy, superintendent community welfare officer in Sligo, stressed that the payment was made to car-owning asylum seekers with children, but not to others who own cars.