Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

We have asked the group to put its initial energies into examining child and family income supports.

The Government has plans to tackle poverty and promote child well-being. The Department of Social Protection provides a wide range of supports to families and their children through the social protection system.

Easily the best known is the child benefit payment, paid on a universal basis to approximately 600,000 families in respect of some 1.1 million children. The current rates of child benefit are €140 per month in respect of the first and second child, €167 per month for the third child and €177 per month for the fourth and subsequent children. In contrast, the rate of child benefit in Northern Ireland is approximately €100 per month for the first child and approximately €65 per month for each additional child. Other allowances such as family income supplement are also accessible in the Republic. The supports in the Republic are much higher than those offered in the North by the Sinn Féin Government there.

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