Figures on social welfare spending during 2010 shows that a third of Ireland's expenditure goes toward social welfare payments, reveals the Independent.
The Department of Social Protection's Statistical Information on Social Welfare Services 2010 document show that the overall social welfare budget of €20.8bn now constitutes 33.4 percent of all current government expenditure.
Unemployment payments come just under 25 percent of the total budget, while 22.1 percent is spent on pension. The rest of the balance is taken up by the rest of the 80 schemes that come under social welfare, which includes everything from free travel to farm-assist payments.
Administrative costs came to over €575m, but this was less than three percent of the department's total budget.
In 2001, 903,375 citizens received some form of social welfare and there were 1,460,574 beneficiaries of the social welfare system. By last year, this had escalated to 1,430,833 recipients and 2,179,428 beneficiaries.
Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton said that these supports showed "the Government's commitment to the welfare of all those in need of support."
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.GeorgeDillon | Jul 27, 2011, 11:49 AM EDT
PhutiePahn: "This has been earned by the employee and kept in abeyance. It is not largesse from the state". First of all, forget the word "state". You mean the folks who pay taxes. Second, your formulation doesn't work in the case of foreign migrants, 80.000 of whom are now claiming dole (not to mention countless others claiming other forms of welfare). They can "transfer" their credits from say latvia to Ireland, even tho the amount they've paid in in latvia is miniscule and wouldn't be enough to fund two weeks of Irish benefits.
JimMcGarity | Jul 25, 2011, 11:31 PM EDT
Oh just like the USA. 1 works, 1 lives off the other and 1 is retired.
greensod | Jul 25, 2011, 05:44 PM EDT
How come we never hear what the politicians are costing the country.
PhlutiePhan | Jul 25, 2011, 12:22 PM EDT
Ecoomically, you have to understand that unemployment and pensions are taken out of the check of an employee and put into an escrow fund. This has been earned by the employee and kept in abeyance. It is not largesse from the state. This is 50% of your claim. However, employment is down in Ireland as well as the rest of the world and extended benefits come from the state. The fact that we have a "nanny state" is a very big problem. The greed of the big multi-national corporations is an opposite extreme. Capital for buiness expansion is going through the roof because of the cheap labor in China and whose stated goal is to have the "proletariat take over the means of production".
butlerreport | Jul 25, 2011, 11:25 AM EDT
Does this include politicians salaries?
Porickseantuny | Jul 25, 2011, 11:19 AM EDT
My immigrant father railed at the Irish on the dole a generation ago. I guess Ireland has reverted to form.
LoyalCitizen | Jul 25, 2011, 09:41 AM EDT
Eighty percent of the Irish Economy relies of Social Welfare. Without Social Welfare what size would the Irish Economy be????? Without Irish Politicians giving welfare handouts to pretentious American Corporations they will need customers. Where will they get their customers from?
colkelley | Jul 25, 2011, 09:17 AM EDT
You wanted a "Nanny State," you got it.