Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

-----that money is used very carefully and very well for the children. A child of 16 moves on to a full social welfare payment exclusively in his or her own right. A child of 16 is a child. The suggestion is that the income received in respect of 16 or 17 year old children should be paid to their parents because they are living in a family context and that would be better in terms of the family and the child. I have no doubt that if that happens, those parents - we all know how heroic many parents are in the care they give their children - would continue to look after their child with loving care as has always been the case. I do not have any knowledge of the suggestion the Deputy has made.

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