Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 26 July 2017
1564. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Social Protection the amount it would cost to increase the qualified child payments on all social welfare to €32.30 as recommended by the Committee for Social Protection. [36402/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraIncreases for a Qualified Child (IQCs) are paid as child-related supplements to most weekly social welfare payments in recognition of the need for greater incomes among benefit-dependent households with dependent children. The current full rate of payment is €29.80 per week per dependent child. The estimated expenditure on qualified child increase in 2018 is €569.1million.
IQC payments do not of themselves constitute a specific social welfare scheme and entitlement to the appropriate primary adult payment must be established in the first instance.
Where children continue in full-time education, payment of the IQC can continue up to 22 years of age or up to the end of the academic year in which the child reaches 22 in the case of long-term payments as well as short-term payments that have been in payment for at least 156 days.
The estimated full year cost of increasing the qualified child increase from €29.80 to €32.30 is an additional €47.7 million. Any changes to the rate of the IQC would have to be considered in an overall budgetary context.
