Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 November 2013
403. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for Social Protection her plans to address the issue of grants and/or allowances available for parents of twins, triplets, quadruplets and so on; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50595/13]
View answerChild 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. Child benefit is currently paid to around 612,000 families in respect of some 1.17 million children, with an estimated expenditure of around €1.9 billion. As a universal payment child benefit assists parents with the cost of raising children. The Government is conscious that child benefit is an important source of income for all families, especially during a time of recession and high unemployment. 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. As a result parents with twins will receive a child benefit payment of €4,680 a year while parents with triplets will receive €9,360 per year. Therefore, families with twins receive €1,560 more a year than a family consisting of two single birth children. In the case of a family with triplets, the additional support would amount to €4,680 a year over the support given to a family consisting of three single birth children.
Special rates of payment for children of multiple births have been a feature of the child benefit scheme since the mid-1960s. The rationale for monthly premia rates was linked with the additional costs that might arise in cases of multiple births compared to other households with the same number of children but of different ages. The higher level of support extended to parents of children of multiple births is therefore significant, especially when considered over an entire childhood. Any plans to change the amount paid in respect of such payments are a matter to be decided in a budgetary context.
