Details of Christmas bonus payment to 1.3m people to be announced today 

Christmas bonus payments will for the first time be made to long-term recipients of illness benefit.

More than 1.3m people will be paid the social protection Christmas bonus next week, Minister Heather Humphreys will announce today.

Ms Humphreys will today set out the payment details for the bonus which was agreed in the Budget at a cost of €300m.