Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Perhaps it is this concept that all of a sudden meant it was attached to asking schools to sign the form. When I went to school, I never had to bring a form to the school to prove I was in school so my mother could collect the children's allowance. It is like the decision was made at a policy level. It is something new in the past 17 years. I am trying to think of the age of my daughter and when it started and stopped throughout her lifetime. I agree the payment should not stop at the age of 18 particularly when children start school later. In one sense we are arguing that it should be to the end of second level. This is then in the psyche of policymakers, who attach access to it to being in the education system. To some extent they need to be uncoupled from a policy perspective in order that we do not disenfranchise women. It probably is not raised because people have just accepted that they no longer receive the children's allowance because the child does not go to school. They have also accepted it as a policy intention without there ever having being, in my understanding or memory, a conversation about it. Everyone has just accepted it. It is something we need to start bringing to the fore again for the women in my community who no longer receive children's allowance because their children are having such difficulty attending school. If anyone needs to continue to have support, it is families in this situation. It is about naming it as an issue. For politicians and advocates from a policy perspective, it would be a good time to look at where it came from and why it happened. If it is just a ministerial order, it should be undone.