Government expenditure on unemployment payments in- creased by 30 per cent last year, with a 9 per cent increase in the live register, new official figures show.
A total of 938,999 people were in receipt of weekly social welfare payments at the end of 2002, with 1.5 million beneficiaries including children and other relatives, according to the Department of Social and Family Affairs.
The Department said it spent €9.52 billion last year on social welfare, an increase of 21 per cent on 2001 when it spent €7.84 billion.
Last year's spending represented 29 per cent of gross current Government expenditure and 9 per cent of Gross National Product.
The main areas of expenditure related to old-age programmes (24 per cent), child-related payments (17 per cent), widows, widowers and one parent families (17 per cent), illness, disability and caring (15 per cent), unemployment supports (10 per cent) and 5 per cent on supplementary welfare allowance.
The Exchequer financed 54 per cent of the expenditure, with the Social Insurance Fund providing the rest.