1.3 MILLION PEOPLE are to receive a double social welfare payment this week, under a cost-of-living measures announced by the Government in last year’s budget. 

 €342 million is to be paid out to recipients including pensioners, carers, lone parents, low-income families and those with disabilities. 

It’s the ninth lump sum payment aimed at easing cost-of-living increases under the 2024 budget. 

People who have been on Jobseeker’s Allowance for over 12 months will also qualify for the payment. 

Minister Heather Humphreys said that the double payment is about “putting more money back into [people's] pockets and recognising that families continue to feel the pinch, particularly after the Christmas period”. 

In addition to a series of lump sum payments, the Government also introduced increases of €12 per week to the payments of most social welfare recipients, from January of this year. 

When the budget was announced, charities and opposition politicians said that the increases did not go far enough in light of the financial pressure that inflation has put Irish households under.