Cash payments just the ticket for former sweepstakes workers

A group of former Irish Sweepstakes workers meet in the Gresham Hotel on the first Monday of every month. Champagne, rather than coffee, will be on the menu when the ladies meet next Monday morning.

After a 13-year battle, the former workers are jubilant at the news that they will each get a £20,000 lump sum to compensate for their redundancy. "It hasn't settled in yet," said former cashier Ms Aileen Saul. "I thought that I had the cheque in my hand three times before, so it's hard to believe it."

The Irish Hospital Sweepstakes employees watched lottery winners collecting their fortunes every week, but when they were made redundant in 1987, the sweepstakes company could only afford to pay pensions of £2 to £3 per week. The mainly female staff were in their 50s and were unlikely to work again. "We were treated very badly and no one took any responsibility for it until now," Ms Saul said.

"There were about 4,000 working there when I started but you got to know people. We went on holidays together. It was such a shock to lose our jobs and be left with nothing." While Ms Saul had her own home, she knew of cases where people were forced to move out of their comfortable rented accommodation. According to Mr John Slevin, spokesman for the workers, between 30 and 40 people have died since they were made redundant. Their families will now collect the money.

He said some people had been living in very difficult circumstances since they lost their jobs.

"Twenty thousand pounds might not be very much to people in gainful employment but to people living on social welfare and the old age pension, it's like winning the Sweep. It's a fortune," Mr Slevin said.

So what will they spend the money on? Ms Aileen Saul isn't counting her chickens just yet. "I really can't think about it until I see the cheque in the bank. But I might go to Australia. It depends on the weather."

The Irish Hospital Sweepstakes was once one of the world's most successful lotteries, providing £135 million for Irish hospitals and £265 million in prizes.

However, with the introduction of more generous US and Canadian lotteries, its traditional market was threatened and the trickle of staff redundancies began in the late 1970s.

Ms Mary Harney was the politician who closed the chapter on the issue when she guided an Act through the Dail on Thursday to allow for this "ex gratia" payment.