Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 16 May 1996

Vol. 465 No. 5

Written Answers. - Grant for Twins.

Brendan Smith

Ceist:

55 Mr. B. Smith asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will amend the regulations governing the payment of the twins grant under the child benefit scheme to enable a person (details supplied) in County Cavan avail of this benefit in view of the fact that this family's sole income consists of social welfare payments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10024/96]

Minister for Social Welfare (Proinsias De Rossa)

The special grant of £500 in respect of twins is payable to a person who, in accordance with the relevant domestic legal provisions, is a qualified person for child benefit purposes, i.e. the person with whom a qualified child normally resides. A qualified child is defined to mean a child who is under the age of 16, or aged between 16 and 19 if in full-time education or if physically or mentally disabled and who is ordinarily resident in the State and not detained in reformatory, industrial school or legal custody.

The EU regulations on social security provide for co-ordination between the social security systems of the various member states. The primary purpose of these regulations is to ensure that people who have lived and worked in more than one country are adequately covered for social protection purposes. The regulations also provide clarity as to which country's national legislation applies — a basic principle is to ensure that the legislation of only one member state will apply at any time.

In accordance with these EU regulations, where a person receives an insurance-based pension under the legislation of one member state, family benefits in respect of the children of such a person are paid by that State. The purpose of such provisions is to prevent the overlapping of benefits.

In the case which the Deputy has raised, the person in question is in receipt of a British, insurance-based, disability pension. Consequently, she is paid British child benefit in respect of her children. An amendment to the Irish regulations would not, therefore, have the effect of extending entitlement to the grant payable in respect of twins in a case such as this.

I should point out that, although there are no additional elements akin to the Irish twins grant, British child benefit rates are somewhat better than ours.