Department of Social Welfare of Ireland

The Department of Social Welfare of Ireland, in carrying out its mandate, has a range of functions that include:

• develops appropriate social protection policies and administers and manages the implementation of statutory and non-statutory schemes and services. It is responsible for a range of social insurance and social assistance, including insurance against unemployment, illness, motherhood, care, widowhood, retirement and old age. Payments are made to nearly 950 thousand people every week; more than 1.5 million people directly benefited from these payments.

Department of Social Welfare of Ireland
Irl. An Roinn Coimirce Sóisialaí
general information
A country
date of creation
Headquarters
Number of employees	5175
Annual budget	€ 13.590 billion
Executive Minister	Leo Varadkar
Website	welfare.ie

Payments are usually divided into three groups:

• Social insurance
• Social assistance - payments that are made on the basis of compliance with threshold criteria based on the results of a means test .
• Universal payments (e.g. child support or free travel)