Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

Section 4 provides for discontinuing the current entitlement to the payment of a half rate qualified child increase, where the spouse, the civil partner or the cohabiting partner of the beneficiary has a weekly income in excess of a prescribed amount, with effect from 1 July 2012. With regard to the incapacity supplement payable under the occupational injury benefit scheme, it extends the reference to spouse of a beneficiary to include a reference also to the civil partner or the cohabitant of the beneficiary. This amendment will take effect from the enactment of the Bill.

The measure introduces for the first time an upper income limit on spouse-partner earnings for entitlement to the half rate qualified child increase. It will be no longer payable where a recipient spouse or partner has earnings in excess of €400 per week. Of course, they could be earning a lot more than €400 per week.

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