Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 4 April 2017
372. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Minister for Social Protection the estimated full-year cost of increasing the cut-off point for eligibility for child benefit from 16 to 18 years of age; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16584/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraChild 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 disability.
Child Benefit is currently paid to around 627,000 families in respect of some 1.2 million children, with an estimated expenditure in the order of over €2 billion in 2017.
It is not possible to accurately predict the full year cost of increasing the cut off point for eligibility for child benefit from 16 to 18 years of age. This is because the Department has no way of measuring with any degree of accuracy the number of children who are not in education. However, according to the most recent figures from the Department of Education and Skills the national retention rates at second level are in excess of 90 per cent. This would suggest that the number of additional children between 16 and 18 years currently not eligible as they are not in full time education would be relatively low and would not result in a substantial increase in current Child Benefit expenditure. However, breaking the link between school attendance and Child Benefit for 16 and 17 year olds could also have unintended consequences in relation to retention rates at second level.
It is also worth noting that under EU regulations Child Benefit is defined as a family benefit and is exportable in cases where the claimant is working in Ireland but where the children are living abroad. We have no way of predicting with any degree of accuracy the potential in-flow in this category for children who turn 17 and are not in secondary education in other Member States.
Any changes to the eligibility criteria for Child Benefit would have to be considered in an overall budgetary context.
