Tony Gregory
Question:262 Mr. Gregory asked the Minister for Social Welfare the reason the eighth child of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 10 receives £29 child dependency allowance rather than £33. [12572/97]
Written Answers. - Child Benefit.
I presume the Deputy is referring to child benefit. Child benefit is a universal payment which is payable in respect of all children up to the age of 16 years, regardless of the level of family income, employment or marital status. Child benefit continues to be paid up to age 19 in the case of children who are still in full-time education and children with disabilities. The rate of payment is £29 per month for each of the first two qualified children and £34 per month in respect of the third and subsequent qualified children — increasing to £30 and £39, respectively, from September, 1997.
The rate of child benefit payable is not determined on the basis of the place of each individual child within the family, but to the number of eligible children in the family. Where a child is no longer qualified for child benefit purposes, the overall rate of benefit payable is adjusted in accordance with the number of remaining qualified children.
In the case in question, there are nine children in the family, four of whom are currently qualified for child benefit purposes. One child will be 19 next month and another child will finish in full-time education in June. Accordingly, there will be two children who will remain qualified for child benefit from July. The rate of child benefit payable to the family will, therefore, be the rate appropriate to a two-child family, i.e. £58, increasing to £60 in September.
One of my main priorities, since taking up office, has been to assist low income families and, in particular, larger families. This has been achieved by increasing the higher rate of child benefit, payable in respect of third and subsequent children from £25 in 1994 to £39 this year. In addition, the lower rate of child benefit, payable in respect of the first and second child, has been increased from £20 in 1994 to £30 this year. This represents an overall increase of £10 (50 per cent) in the rate payable in respect of the first two children and £14 (56 per cent in the higher rate payable in respect of third and subsequent children since this Government came to office.