Social welfare spend up 1.5% to €20.8bn last year

Almost 2.2 million people were benefiting from a weekly social welfare payment at the end of 2010, according to the latest data from the Department of Social Protection.

Publishing her department's annual report for 2010 this evening, Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton said over 2 million claims were processed during the year with over 85.3 million payments made.