Dr. Nat O'Connor:

There has been a lot of research showing that child benefit itself is very valuable to low-income households, but obviously it is a universal payment so it is expensive for the national budget in terms of rolling it out or increasing it. As lot of research has been done by the ESRI and others such as Dr. Barra Roantree in Trinity College and people before him, examining the same issue which suggest that, if we really want to make a difference on child poverty, if we could have a targeted, means-tested second child benefit payment which would top up the child benefit payment, it would be cheaper for the national budget and more effective in addressing child poverty. That evidence is there and there is a lot that would support that. Other countries do not have a universal child benefit and target money more specifically at those families and children who need it most.