Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Under social welfare law, deciding officers make independent judgments on the application of that law. Individual deciding officers are not subject to direction when making decisions. In other words, they cannot be directed as to what they should decide. A deciding officer can, of course, seek advice and consult others in order to ensure he or she provides a correct and fair decision. Where errors are made in law or in fact, where new evidence or facts have arisen or where there has been a relevant change in circumstances, another deciding officer has the legal power to revise the decision of the original officer. As the Deputy is aware, in practice child benefit is paid to the child's mother in all cases, except where the parents are separated and the father has responsibility for the full-time care of the child for more than 50% of the time. The regulations governing the scheme do not provide for the splitting of the payment between parties in cases of shared residency arrangements for the child. In the case in question, both parents claimed and produced evidence to the effect that the child was with each of them more than 50% of the time.

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