The main Opposition parties have attacked the Government over the "bungled" social welfare payments over the Christmas period.
Some 47,000 welfare recipients who receive their money electronically into their bank accounts were mistakenly paid double their weekly rate last week, meaning they will not be paid at all this week.
Fine Gael social affairs spokesman Mr David Stanton
Those affected include people getting old-age pensions, carer's allowances, invalidity pensions or lone parent's allowances. They were informed by post today that they would not receive any payment for this week.
Age Action Ireland and the Carers' Association said the mistake could cause hardship, as many of those who received the extra cash may have mistaken it for a Christmas bonus and spent it already.
Fine Gael said the Minister for Social & Family Affairs, Mr Brennan, should delay the claw back of overpayments to ease the financial burden on those who may have been left short this week.
"It won't break the Exchequer if this claw back is delayed, however it could cause severe financial hardship to the recipients who will not receive their payments this week," social affairs spokesman Mr David Stanton said.
"It's not good enough for the Minister to say that people should go to the Community Welfare Officer, as the mistake was made by his Department and his Department should now show a certain amount of consideration to the people affected, especially at this time of year."
Labour called for a review of the procedures involved in social welfare payments. The party's social affairs spokesman, Mr Willie Penrose, said Mr Brennan must ensure the "bungle" is not repeated.
"It is also very unfortunate that this mistake has occurred at a time of the year when many individuals and families will be struggling to pay off post-Christmas debts and pay high household utility bills," Mr Penrose said.
Around 970,000 people receive social welfare payments each week.