Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

My amendment is technical in nature. On Committee Stage, I felt there was a need to tie up some of the loose ends on the sharing of information by Government agencies and Departments. I have made an error in the amendment in that I have not included the Department of Education and Skills, which should be in there.

At issue is the sharing of information among the Department of Social Protection, the Department of Children and Youth Affairs and the Department of Education and Skills. The legislation sets out two tests for eligibility for a doctor visit card. First, the child must be under the age of six years, which information can be obtained easily through the GRO, which is under the remit of the Department of Social Protection. I presume the HSE already has access to that. The more important test is residency in the country. It would benefit PCRS in Finglas if it were able to link in with the database of the Department of Education and Skills to establish whether a child is in school or availing of the ECCE scheme and resident in the State. Of the cohort of children, 97% are availing of ECCE, and school attendance statistics are similar. The Department of Social Protection carries out tests on residency on an ongoing basis.

The Minister of State will probably make the argument that people will be attending their GPs. That is not the case, however. While some children will attend their GPs frequently, I suspect that many will not, particularly after they have had the required vaccinations, as they will not be sick. Children could have left the country. Private patients would not be on a GP's ongoing register for medical cards, which cover approximately 60% of the children we are talking about. The last thing any of us wants is a situation in which we are paying out money for children who are no longer resident in the State.

The Department of Social Protection spends €7.5 million to administer the child benefit scheme annually. It issues 600,000 letters a year, which is enough paper to cover the pitch at Croke Park two and a half times. That does not include postage stamps and envelopes. It costs money. Each year, the control section of the Department of Social Protection recoups €75 million in child benefit payments, a substantial amount of which relates to children who are not resident in the State. Their parents have PPS numbers and may be in receipt of other social protection benefits, but they have emigrated while the money continues to be lodged in a bank account. Under the child benefit scheme, once a child reaches school-going age, he or she must be attending school to be eligible for a payment. That is not enforced, which is a significant part of the problem. Another problem is that the letters must be issued in respect of children under the age of five. GPs must certify that the child is still resident in the State.

Rather than issuing 600,000 letters annually through the Department of Social Protection and having the Department of Health issue payments to GPs through the HSE and PCRS for children who are no longer resident in the State, I propose amendment No. 7.

I propose the amendment to link the sharing of information between the Department of Social Protection, the Department of Children and Youth Affairs and the Department of Education and Skills so there is a sharing of data on the residency of the children. The information the PCRS has will assist the Department of Social Protection in ensuring child benefit is not paid to children not resident here. The same is true of information held by the three Departments, which will benefit PCRS in making sure it is not paying GPs for children in cases where the GPs may not know the children have left the country.

We had a problem in the past whereby the Exchequer paid GPs for people who were dead. It was a big scandal a number of years ago and we do not want to create another anomaly in legislation and another loophole that sees valuable resources and taxpayers' money being spent on children who are not resident in the country. I urge the Minister of State to accept the amendment and to ensure the sharing takes place.

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