Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

One of the structural changes that I would be totally in favour of, and I wonder whether consideration was given to it, would be giving a double child benefit in September when children go back to school. When children go back to school, not only do they go back to school with all the attendant costs, but there are huge costs to joining all the various clubs, including for music, dancing and all the other things that children do and should be encouraged to do. They are important for the development of children. If two families have the same income, but one has children and one does not, the one with children has significant extra financial pressures on the same income. People who would be termed middle class and who have children, a mortgage and so on, face huge pressures at certain times of the year. In a year when there was no increase in child benefit, was consideration given to structuring into the system a double payment in September to help defray these costs and encourage parents who engage their children in outside activities? These are not really optional. It is important to the development of young people that they are involved in activities rather than hanging round the place.