S.I. No. 500 of 2008

SOCIAL WELFARE (TEMPORARY PROVISIONS) REGULATIONS 2008

Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in

“Iris Oifigiúil” of 5th December, 2008.

The Minister for Social and Family Affairs, in exercise of the powers conferred on her by sections 4 (as amended by section 17 and Schedule 3 of the Social Welfare Law Reform and Pensions Act 2006 (No. 5 of 2006)) and 292 (as amended by section 29 and Schedule 6 of the Social Welfare Law Reform and Pensions Act 2006 ) of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 (No. 26 of 2005), hereby makes the following Regulations:

Citation.

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Social Welfare (Temporary Provisions) Regulations 2008.

Definition.

2. In these Regulations “the Principal Act” means the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 .

Christmas bonus.

3. (1) Subject to this article, where a person is or becomes entitled to any benefit, pension, assistance, allowance or payment mentioned in this article, any amount payable to that person by way of that benefit, pension, assistance, allowance or payment (including any increase thereof) shall be increased by a sum equal to 100 per cent of the appropriate weekly amount due to the said person in respect of the week commencing on-

(a) 26 November, 2008 in the case of jobseeker’s allowance payable in accordance with section 142(1)(a) of the Principal Act, farm assist or pre-retirement allowance, or

(b) 3 December, 2008 in the case of disability allowance, or

(c) 4 December, 2008 in the case of carer’s benefit, State pension (transition), invalidity pension, oneparent family payment (other than oneparent family payment payable in respect of a widow or a widower), a relevant payment under section 178(1) of the Principal Act or carer’s allowance, or

(d) 5 December, 2008 in the case of disablement pension, death benefit under sections 81, 82 or 83 of the Principal Act, State pension (contributory), widow’s and widower’s (contributory) pension, guardian’s payment (contributory), State pension (non-contributory), blind pension, widow’s and widower’s (noncontributory) pension, guardian’s payment (non-contributory) or oneparent family payment in respect of a widow or widower:

Provided that a person (other than a person who by virtue of Regulations made under section 247 of the Principal Act is in receipt of more than one benefit, pension, assistance, allowance or payment) shall not be entitled to more than one such increase.

(2) Where on 3, 4 or 5 December, 2008, as the case may be, a benefit, pension, assistance, payment or allowance is payable to a person by direct credit transfer in accordance with article 192(2)(c) of the Social Welfare (Consolidated Claims, Payments and Control) Regulations, 2007 ( S.I. No. 142 of 2007 ), that benefit, pension, assistance, payment or allowance shall be deemed to include the appropriate weekly amount due to that person payable in accordance with sub-article (1).

(3) Where the amount of the increase calculated pursuant to subarticle (1) of this article is less than €30, the said increase shall be payable at the amount of €30.

Rounding.

4. Where, by virtue of the provisions of these Regulations, the amount of benefit, pension, assistance, allowance or payment (including any increase thereof) is increased, the amount so payable shall be rounded up to the nearest 10 cent where it is a multiple of 5 cent but not also a multiple of 10 cent and shall be rounded to the nearest 10 cent where it is not a multiple of 5 cent or 10 cent.

GIVEN under the Official Seal of the Minister for Social and Family Affairs,

28 November 2008

MARY HANAFIN,

Minister for Social and Family Affairs.

The Minister for Finance hereby consents to the making of the foregoing Regulations.

GIVEN under the Official Seal of the Minister for Finance,

28 November 2008

BRIAN LENIHAN,

Minister for Finance.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation.)

These Regulations provide for the payment of a Christmas Bonus to longterm social welfare recipients, equivalent to 100% of their normal weekly payments, subject to a minimum payment of €30.

The bonus payment applies to recipients of

Blind Pension,

Carer’s Allowance,

Carer’s Benefit,

Death Benefit by way of pension,

Disability Allowance,

Disablement Pension,

Farm Assist,

Guardian’s Payment (Contributory and NonContributory),

Invalidity Pension,

Jobseeker’s Allowance in respect of a continuous period of unemployment of at least 15 months,

Oneparent Family Payment,

PreRetirement Allowance,

Relevant payments under section 178(1) of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 (formerly Deserted Wife’s Benefit and Allowance and Prisoner’s Wife’s Allowance),

State Pension (Contributory and NonContributory),

State Pension (Transition),

Widow’s and Widower’s (Contributory) Pension, and

Widow’s and Widower’s (NonContributory) Pension.