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06 Sept 2025
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06 Sept 2025
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Social Welfare Christmas Bonus
The Department of Social Protection has published the Christmas social welfare payment dates, which see double payments and Christmas payments for most.
Banks and post offices are closed on New Year's Day, which means that anyone who would expect to receive a social welfare payment on January 1st will now see it land in their account on the December 31.
All department offices, including Intreo Centres and Branch Offices, will be closed on 25 and 26 December 2024 and 1 January 2025.
According to the Department of Social Protection, if you receive a weekly social welfare payment, you will get your payment as usual during the week commencing Monday, December 16, and an advanced payment for the following week.
This applies to payments made at post offices, by cheque or directly into your financial institution account
Child benefit payments will not be affected as they are scheduled to be paid January 2, 2025.
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JobSeekers Payments:
Gov.ie advises that "if you are on a jobseeker’s casual or part-time payment, you need to provide dockets in advance as advised to ensure your payment continues over the Christmas period.
When the dockets are received, Jobseeker's payments will be issued on Friday December 20 and will be double payments covering two weeks.
It is advised by gov.ie that in order to ensure you receive your payments on time this month follow the guidelines on Mywelfare.ie
Illness Benefit customers are asked to "continue to send in your ‘Certificate of Incapacity for Work’ over the Christmas and New Year period."
Christmas Bonus:
The Christmas Bonus is to be paid to over 1.38 million people, according to gov.ie
676,000 families have received a double Child Benefit payments in the first week of December and payments totalling over €535 million were issued to support people with the cost of living, according to the Department of Social Protection.
A 100% Christmas Bonus will be paid in the week beginning December 2 2024 on the same day that they would receive their normal primary payment, excluding Casual Jobseeker's who will be paid in the week beginning 9 December 2024.
"The Christmas Bonus will only be paid to you if you have been getting an eligible payment for at least 12 months," according to gov.ie.
The Christmas Bonus provides a 100% increase in the weekly rate of payment for eligible recipients including pensioners, people with disabilities, carers and lone parents.
“These payments mean people will have extra money in their pockets in the run up to Christmas, which will ease the pressure that many households are facing,” Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys has said.
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