Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

The Minister misunderstood what I said earlier on this issue. I am not saying that half of current claimants will be affected by this measure, rather I am making clear that in the future fewer people will be entitled to the one family payment and, only until their child or children reach seven years of age, as compared with the current situation whereby people can claim for children up to 14 years of age and upwards. In due course, people will only receive this payment for half the number of years for which current recipients receive it. This means that the number of future recipients will be approximately half the number of current recipients. If 92,000 are currently in receipt of this payment for children up to 14 years of age - in some cases up to 18 years of age - and the age limit is halved to seven years of age in a couple of years time then the number of recipients on an annual basis will be halved. I am not saying 50% of current recipients will be affected rather I am saying that the number of recipients will halve in time because new recipients will not be entitled to the payment for as long as current recipients.

The Minister has let the cat out of the bag. As I stated, as we continue to debate this issue we are getting to the truth. The Minister said for the second time this evening that this scheme costs €1 billion. If in four or five years time fewer people will be entitled to this payment then the scheme will only cost €500 million.

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