The NGO Civil Society Network has urged people to donate the one-off government bonus being distributed this week to charity "as an act of protest" rather than allowing themselves to be "bought off". 

A one-off €35 government bonus is currently being handed out to households to compensate for the increase of bread and milk prices registered last year. Single persons will get a €15 cheque.

In a statement, Civil Society Network said that while the bonus might be useful in the short term, it would have "no meaningful impact" on families in the long run. 

"It would have been more fruitful had the Government invested the sum of the cheques to eradicate the prevalent inequalities that plague our societies and improve the standard of living generally," the organisation said. 

"Instead, the Government has shown that it prefers issuing one-off cheques amounting to petty cash in a populistic fashion. CSN insists that there were more prudent actions available to the Government and therefore we encourage the cheque to be given to your favourite charity in protest of populistic, begging-bowl politics."

The government has said an estimated 181,000 families will receive the allowance, including 52,300 single people, with an overall cost of €5.3 million. 

It said the so-called discretionary measure was possible due to the robust economic growth being registered, and that a total of €80 million in similar measures had been earmarked in the 2020 budget.