Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)

I am pleased to have the opportunity to respond to the Labour Party motion on the subject of child benefit and to sum up the arguments in favour of the Government's counter-motion.

As the Minister for Social and Family Affairs highlighted last night, the improvements that have been made in both child income supports and child care provision in recent years have been unprecedented. Since 2000, we have increased the rates of child benefit from just €53.96 per month for the first and second child and from €71.11 per month for the third and any subsequent child to €166 and €203 per child, respectively. In the same period, expenditure on the scheme has grown from just €638 million to €2.5 billion per year. Improvements have been made in both the qualified child increase paid to welfare-dependent families and the family income supplement paid to low-income working parents. These improvements in funding for families have been supplemented by increased support for child care programmes, which are expected to create some 65,000 child care places when fully implemented. From next January, all children will be entitled to a free preschool year.

Child benefit is the main thrust of the motion. As a result of the increases of recent years, a family with four children now receives €738 per month, or €8,856 per year, in child benefit, regardless of how high the parents' earnings are. The Government is proud to have been able to deliver such significant increases in payments to families when the resources were available. However, in the current economic environment, we simply cannot afford to keep spending at the same level as we did when our tax revenue was much higher. Failure to stabilise the public finances would jeopardise our ability to fund social services in the future and make circumstances worse for everyone, including welfare recipients, in the longer term. In that context, it is important to examine the €2.5 billion being spent on child benefit and to consider how savings might be made in this area.

The Commission on Taxation and the authors of the McCarthy report have made proposals on the child benefit programme. As the Minister for Social and Family Affairs stated last night, in considering these and other options regarding changing the payment, the Government has been determined to find the fairest way of achieving savings while protecting those on low incomes as much as possible.

Let me touch on anti-fraud procedures for child benefit payments, as raised a number of times in the earlier part of this debate. Given the significant changes in the child benefit customer base and in the value of payments, the control policy for the child benefit scheme has been reviewed to ensure controls against fraud and abuse of the schemes continue to be effective and relevant. As a result of the review, enhanced and updated control measures have been devised.

In the case of non-Irish national recipients whose children are resident with them in Ireland, certification that the children continue to reside here is required. Such proof can be provided by showing details of the school or college the child attends or, if the child is not of school-going age, details of the doctor or crèche they attend.

In the case of EU nationals who are working in Ireland but who have qualifying children living in another EU state who are entitled to Irish family benefits under EU law, certification by their employer of continuing employment is requested. In either case, where the required certification is not provided within the specified timescale, the child benefit payment is suspended pending further inquiry and is ultimately terminated if confirmation of continued entitlement is not forthcoming.

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