Cheaper butter for a wide range of people under a new social welfare scheme.
Around 400,000 social welfare recipients and their dependents are entitled to one pound of butter each week at 17 pence below the retail price. The scheme came into effect on 1 April.
A spokesperson from the Department of Social Welfare outlines who is entitled to the vouchers and how the vouchers will work.
People in receipt of the following payments will be entitled to the butter vouchers. The non-contributory old age pension, blind pensioners, non-contributory widows pension, deserted wives allowance, single woman's allowance, social assistance for unmarried mothers, prisoner's wife allowance, unemployment assistance and home assistance, disabled persons maintenance allowance and the infectious disease allowance. In addition, the voucher applies to a small number in receipt of a special allowance from the Department of Defence.
The vouchers will be issued by post or in person, depending on the type of allowance the recipient is on. The Department of Social Welfare will begin to issue vouchers in May. The vouchers can then be exchanged in any shop for butter. The retailer then sends the voucher to their butter supplier. The creamery then sends the vouchers to the relevant department. The scheme is authorised until the end of January 1976.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 9 April 1975. The reporter is Tom McCaughren.
