Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 25 October 2012
206. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the engagement she has had with the Department of Social Protection on the subject of child benefit expenditure for 2013; if her attention has been drawn to the fact that there is concern among families that child benefit maybe significantly cut; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46941/12]
View answerAs the Deputy will be aware, Budget 2013 will be announced later this year and in accordance with the engagement process all Ministers and their Departments will have responsibility, in the first instance, for evaluating those programmes and services for which they have primary responsibility. In addition to this, Ministers will have collective responsibility for decisions on the overall package of measures to be introduced in the context of the upcoming Budget. It would be inappropriate for me at this time to comment on Budgetary matters or to engage in unwarranted speculation before these Budgetary deliberations are concluded. I would emphasise that no decisions have been made by Government at this stage and nor will they until Budgetary deliberations are concluded. In the circumstances I do not think that speculation is helpful and I do not propose to engage in such speculation.
In general I am supported by my Department in contributing to the assessment of all proposals that come before Government that have implications for children and young people. I can assure the Deputy that the various dimensions to the well-being of children and young people require my Department to work across Government and with a wide range of stakeholders to promote the physical, emotional and economic well being of children and young people. Building strong collaborative relationships with Government Departments to achieve these aims is a key objective in my Department’s Strategy Statement 2011-2014. For example, my Department works closely with the Department of Social Protection in a ‘whole of Government approach’ to tackling disadvantage and poverty in the population. The Department is represented on the Advisory Group on Tax and Social Welfare established by the Minister for Social Protection to examine issues to do with the interactions of the tax and welfare systems so that they provide good incentives for parents to take up and remain in work and thereby contribute to the reduction of poverty and child poverty, in particular.
My Department will continue to work in close partnership with the Department of Social Protection and other Government Departments on a range of cross-cutting issues in relation to both policy and provision as they relate to children and young people.
