Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am taking this matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Burton, who is before the Oireachtas Joint Sub-Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions. I thank Deputy Naughten for raising the issue of child benefit and school attendance. Both child income support and school attendance are important social policy concerns of the Government.

Child benefit is a universal monthly payment that assists all families with the costs associated with raising children up to the age of 18 years and is especially important during a time of recession and unemployment. Child benefit is paid to approximately 606,000 families in respect of some 1.15 million children, with an estimated expenditure of approximately €1.9 billion. The Deputy should note that child benefit is classified as a family benefit under EU regulations. A key principle of the regulations is that persons moving to different member states are subject to the same obligations and enjoy the same benefits as the nationals of those member states. Therefore, EU nationals who come to work in Ireland and who pay Irish social insurance contributions are entitled to receive child benefit in respect of their children, even if the children reside in another EU member state.

The Department of Social Protection takes a proactive approach to ensuring child benefit is paid only to eligible families. It commenced issuing continuing eligibility certificates to parents in 2008 and has since devised enhanced and updated control measures. The total savings from child benefit control activity were €48.5 million in 2008, €89 million in 2009, €106 million in 2010, €85 million in 2011 and €83 million in 2012. The savings achieved so far in 2013 amount to just under €54 million.

School attendance is a statutory requirement for children up to the age of 16 years. The National Educational Welfare Board promotes and monitors school attendance up to the statutory school leaving age. Linking child benefit to school attendance is superfluous, as it is already a statutory requirement. The continuation of child benefit for children over 16 years and less than 18 years is dependent on children attending school for these two years. The Department of Social Protection issues a confirmation letter to parents with children aged 16 and 17, which must be signed by their school for each of these years. The requirement for school attendance for children in receipt of child benefit is already a strong feature of both education and social protection policy. In the absence of any evidence that the existing statutory arrangements are inadequate, a further measure to link child benefit and school attendance would be an unnecessary duplication and lead to significant administrative costs for schools and the Department of Social Protection.

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