Crisis welfare costs €100m to June

EMERGENCY welfare payments have ballooned to a cost of €100 million for the first six months of this year, as more people than ever look for extra help to survive.

Almost 42,000 people are now in receipt of emergency payments under the basic supplementary welfare allowance scheme, the so-called “safety net” of the social welfare system.

The cost of the payments in the whole of 2007 was €150m, with just 27,379 recipients. This increased to 35,546 people at the end of 2008, costing €184m for the year.