asked the Minister for Social Welfare whether he will take steps to ensure, if necessary by the introduction of proposals for legislation, that children's allowances will be paid as from the date of birth, instead of certain qualifying dates as at present.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Children's Allowances.
The suggestion in the Deputy's question was considered when the initial Act of 1944 was being introduced and again when the Amendment Act of 1946 was introduced, but the arrangement which the Deputy has in mind was found to be impracticable because of the administrative difficulties involved.
The Act of 1944 is governed by the principle that the allowance should be payable over a fixed period in relation to a particular qualifying date. Although children born subsequent to a qualifying date are not eligible for an allowance until the next qualifying date, any hardship involved is offset by a provision in the Act which enables the allowance to be continued after such children have reached the age of 16 until the end of the appropriate payment period.
Furthermore, so far as new claimants are concerned, provision has been made in the Children's Allowances (Amendment) Act of 1946, whereby the number of qualifying dates in each year has been increased from two to six, thus enabling claims to be accepted at intervals of two months.