A new report shows there was a 15% increase in people seeking social welfare payments in 2008, totalling €17.5bn.
Last year, almost 1.8m people were receiving weekly Government assistance in the form of social welfare payments.
The types of assistance 1.2m people received ranged from jobseekers, pensioners, carers and those in receipt of disability payments. While other payments were for 145,200 adult dependants and over 445,700 children.
The Statistical Information on Social Welfare Services report indicates that there was a drop in the numbers of EU workers coming into the country. PPSN applications in 2008 dropped for the first time since 2004.
Read the report
This would indicate that there were 58,500 less people coming from the EU to live and work in Ireland than in 2007.
