asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will consider making reciprocal arrangements with the British authorities for the payment of children's allowance in respect of families going to live in Northern Ireland from the Republic and vice versa.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Children's Allowances.
16.
I am not satisfied that any real need exists for reciprocal arrangements in this respect. Families going to live in the Six County area qualify for British family allowance after six months residence there. There is no such waiting period in the case of families coming to reside in the Republic. They are entitled to claim and receive children's allowances immediately.
I do not want to dispute the fact that six months is the qualifying period in Great Britain. My information is that two years is in fact the period and that a person living in Donegal who works in Tyrone and who takes his family into that county to live, as far as children's allowance is concerned, must wait two years before his children qualify.
Six months is the period.