Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

School attendance is a very important element of a child's education. The best education that can be given to children and young people gives them the best opportunity to find a pathway out of difficult circumstances and poverty, a route to find a job and, therefore, the ability to live a life.

There was misinterpretation involved here. The intention is not to take child benefit away from people; it is to ensure that children, in whatever circumstances, are enabled to have the same opportunity as anybody else. The Deputy is quite right that in many different circumstances in places around the country, it is not as simple as it looks. There may well be personal, family, partner or extended family issues. It may be personal to the child and his or her difficulties and no service is being made available to that child. The important point, which was highlighted by the Minister, Deputy Naughten, is that child benefit is a fundamentally important element of welfare in Ireland - the Minister for Social Protection has made it that way - but so is school education. Therefore, supports need to be available so that every child can have the opportunity to go to school to learn and to better himself or herself. That requires, in many cases, dealing with a situation where, for whatever reason, some children do not attend school.

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