Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 June 2021
921. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Social Protection the arrangements her Department has made to facilitate and enable parents of newborn children access children’s allowance payments given that the recent cyber attack has meant parents cannot register child births; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31892/21]
View answerChild benefit is the principal way the State assists families with the costs of raising children. It is paid in respect of all qualified children up to the age of 16 years, or to the age of 18 in respect of children who are in full-time education or who have a disability. It was paid to 639,347 families in respect of 1.2 million children this month.
The Department invites child benefit applications by contacting the parents of new born children, following receipt of a notification of a birth registration from the General Registrars Office (GRO) or auto processes the payment for the new baby where child benefit is already in payment to the family.
Following the recent cyber-attack on the HSE, civil registration services have been severely impacted. The HSE have confirmed than they have commenced the restoration of the birth registration function over recent days and they will begin dealing with the backlog of cases as their registration system comes fully back online over the coming weeks.
Regular updates on the birth registration issue are provided to all customer service teams, while the processing of the delayed birth registrations will be prioritised by the Department as soon as they are received. Any arrears of payments due on claims will be included with the first payment of Child Benefit.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
