The Government has agreed to extend the €2,500 "Centenarians' Bounty" to all Irish citizens born in the State who reach their 100th birthday, no matter where they now live.
A working group has been set up to consider how to administer the payments, currently made only to centenarian citizens born in Ireland who reside here.
The Cabinet decided to extend the payment yesterday, after hearing that it may almost quadruple the number of people receiving it each year.
At present, an average of 160 people receive the money each year at a cost of some €400,000. When extended to emigrants, the Department of Social Welfare estimates that 450 to 600 people will receive this money each year at a cost of up to €1.5 million.
The Taoiseach yesterday described the tradition of paying this sum to those reaching 100 years of age as not just a practical gesture, but a token of regard. "Over the past decades, hundreds of thousands of our people emigrated out of economic necessity," he said.
After yesterday's Cabinet decision, Bertie Ahern said that not only did those emigrants make a huge contribution to their adopted countries, but many also continued to contribute to their families in Ireland by sending money home.
Describing the bounty as a token of regard, Mr Ahern said: "It is appropriate therefore that this regard should be extended equally to Irish people wherever they are in the world.
"At a time in life for older emigrants when friends and family in Ireland may no longer be as numerous as they once were, it is a fitting gesture that the State should acknowledge their 100th birthday."