Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

I can never get my head around this matter. I do not know how many people are eligible. I do not know if there is any way to find that out. Presumably the nearest we would get to it would be through an assessment through, for example, a labour force survey. It depends on household income which requires knowing both incomes of a couple to do the calculation. We must try to ensure that people know they are entitled to it. The concept is very good because it keeps those on low incomes in work. It means that people who do not have a full week's work are entitled to FIS. That is much more attractive than having such people on the live register. I will certainly review all these schemes to ascertain how we can make work attractive for families.

The Deputy asked about child benefit. To my memory, child benefit is not included in the assessment and never was. Therefore, the change in child benefit will not change eligibility.

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