1.3 million people are due to receive a social welfare Christmas Bonus payment next week.
The payments will be in addition to someone's normal weekly payment - at a cost of €300 million to the State.
Next week's bonus payments come following seven other lump sums paid out to households, in receipt of certain social welfare supports, in the past six weeks.
The eight additional payments were announced as part of Budget 2023, at a total cost of €1.2 billion, to help people deal with the rising cost of living.
The Christmas Bonus payment will be paid for the first time to people who have been in receipt of the Illness Benefit payment for 12 months or longer. The Minister for Social Protection, Heather Humphreys, says around 17,500 people will benefit from this extension.
Minister Humphreys also appealed to people to support local businesses, “This year has also been a challenging one for small business and I would encourage people, where possible, to shop locally in the run-up to Christmas.”
