Billy Timmins
Question:279. Deputy Billy Timmins asked the Minister for Social Protection the position regarding multiple birth payment (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53848/12]
View answerTuesday, 4 December 2012
Questions (279, 284)
Billy Timmins
Question:284. Deputy Billy Timmins asked the Minister for Social Protection the position regarding child benefit (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53923/12]
View answerWritten answers
I propose to take Questions Nos. 279 and 284 together.
Child benefit is a monthly payment made to families with children in respect of all qualified children up to the age of 16 years. The payment continues to be paid in respect of children up to their 18th birthday who are in full-time education, or who have a physical or mental disability. The estimated expenditure on child benefit for 2012 is around €2 billion and it is paid to around 600,000 families in respect of some 1.15 million children.
Parents of multiple birth children receive an additional monthly premia paid at one and a half times the monthly child benefit payment rate for each twin and double the monthly payment rate for each child in other multiple births. While Budget 2012 maintained this additional monthly payment, the multiple births grant of €635 paid at birth, at 4 years of age and at 12 years of age was discontinued.
As a universal payment child benefit assists parents with the cost of raising children and it contributes towards alleviating child poverty. The Government is also conscious that child benefit is an important source of income for all families, especially during a time of recession and high unemployment. Bearing this in mind, any plans to change the amount paid in respect of such payments will be a matter to be decided in a budgetary context and announced on Budget day. I do not therefore propose to speculate on any possible approaches to child benefit payment rates changes.
I am conscious that achieving a better design of the overall system of child income supports, including child benefit, raises complex issues about the effectiveness of the full range of income supports currently provided to families and their children. In this context and in line with a commitment in the Programme for Government, I established an Advisory Group on Tax and Social Welfare last year, which has been tasked with recommending cost-effective solutions as to how employment incentives can be improved and better poverty outcomes achieved, particularly child poverty outcomes.
The Advisory Group prioritised the area of family and child income supports and has completed its work on this area. I am currently considering the findings of the Advisory Group’s report on this issue and I intended to publish this report in due course. While the report is not yet in the public domain, it will assist the Government in setting out a pathway towards a more appropriate system of child income supports. It should also be noted that the Government is not obliged to act on the findings of the Advisory Group. To date the direct cost of the Advisory Group is €35,100.