Cecilia Keaveney (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)

I raise the matter of the €1,000 early childcare supplement payment announced in the 2005 budget, which commenced for children under six in April 2006. l again seek clarity on the status of this payment as it pertains to all children and ask the Minister to confirm that the current interpretation is treating all children equally in this Republic.

All children under six whose parents are resident in the Republic were to gain from it. However, I have a cohort of people who are cross-Border workers and they feel that their children are not receiving the payment either directly or indirectly. I know that the Six County family benefit system is different from that of the Republic of Ireland and I accept the need for equal treatment of all families, but that is the core of my query tonight. For many years the system favoured the cross-Border worker but with the advent of the early childcare supplement this group is being told that it is not entitled to this supplement, despite the fact that there has been a rebalancing of the levels of basic child benefit payment in the North.

I know the technical answer, as under EU regulations the country in which a parent works is responsible for paying family benefits. If the parents are employed in two different member states, the state in which the children reside is responsible for paying benefits. The other state pays a supplement if the rate of family benefits is higher than the rate of payment in the state in which the children reside.

In the Republic of Ireland, if a person is on a low income he or she can receive family income support, FIS, to bring income level up. This is on top of the €1,000 for the child. If a person works in the Six Counties in a low-paid job and lives in the Republic of Ireland, that person can receive, since April 2003, a child tax credit which brings income up. It is taken to be part of a child's income or benefit and so the child does not necessarily get the €1,000 euro "supplement" unless the other member state determines that a percentage is due. The family benefit supplement payment is the difference between the amount of family benefits in the Republic of Ireland — consisting of child benefit, family income supplement and I assume the early childcare supplement — and Northern Ireland, which has child benefit and child tax credit. I read from this that the child should end up with the same level of financial support but given that it is seen to come a different way, through child tax credits rather than actual cash or cheque, it is not as transparent for those involved.

That is the core of my query. Does this constitute a payment to a child, just as the early child care supplement was supposed to be? Is it possible for cross-Border workers to choose to have their entitlements paid from the country in which they live, thereby giving them the choice and transparency that some of them feel they do not have? Is such a system only available when the two parents are working in different jurisdictions? Perhaps the Department of Social and Family Affairs needs to clear up some of the confusion that exists about whether cross-Border workers can choose where to draw their child benefits. One cannot get the early child care supplement without getting a child benefit payment from the Department of Social and Family Affairs. I have read an e-mail that states that parents can choose where to get their payments. However, people in these circumstances have told me they have been informed they do not have that choice.

This may be a simple case of problems caused by the complexity of the language used by the Departments on either side of the Border. I hope we will start to tear down such barriers on 8 May next, when Northern Ireland will once more be administered locally. As a representative of a Border constituency, I was involved in resolving the taxation issue for the vast majority of cross-Border workers. I trust that the Minister of State can confirm that all our children are being treated equally. The early child care supplement needs to become a reality for them, rather than being lost in bureaucracy.

I welcomed the announcement last June that extra jobs were to be created in Letterkenny to administer the operation of the child care supplement scheme. It was indicated that up to 22 new posts were to be created. We trust that such decentralisation, which has been a huge success, will be followed in the near future by the decentralisation of the Department of Social and Family Affairs to Buncrana. I have spoken this evening merely to get clarity on an issue that is regularly raised with me.

I ask the Chair to show me some latitude in acknowledging the matter that is about to be raised on the Adjournment by Deputy Howlin. I would like to extend very sincere condolences to the Dunne and O'Brien families on the sad losses. I sympathise with PJ and Marian O'Brien, who come from the Burt area of County Donegal, on the loss of their daughter, Ciara, and their grandchildren, Shania and Leanne. The recent tragic events have comprised a very big tragedy for County Donegal, as they have for County Wexford. I thank the Chair for showing me some latitude in commenting on the matter.

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