Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Seanad amendments Nos. 4 and 5 clarify which children are taken into account when determining the multiple child deduction that will apply to an applicant's assessable income. The multiple child deduction is a deduction from income that I intend to provide for families that have more than one child under the age of 15. It is intended to reflect a cumulative impact of childcare costs on families as it is total childcare costs, the combined cost in respect of all their children, that matter to parents when they are making decisions as to whether they can participate in the labour market. More broadly, the deduction is intended to reflect the relationship between larger family size and economic vulnerability.

Section 13(5) sets out the matters which the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs must take into account when making regulations on the methodology for calculating the level of subsidy under the scheme. These matters include the number of children in the family. In other words, this section gives the Minister the power to apply a multiple child deduction to a family's income for the purpose of the scheme's income assessment.

Section 9(3) of the Bill ensures that the scheme administrator is provided with all necessary information on other children in the family in order to allow for the application of this multiple child deduction. In providing for the multiple child deduction, then, it is essential that the Bill is absolutely clear as to which children may count towards it. The two Seanad amendments proposed today intend to clarify that the relevant children are those who first are children in relation to whom either the applicant or the applicant's partner is a parent or acts in a parental role; and second, are children who reside with the applicant or the applicant's partner. The first condition requiring a parental relationship ensures that a child cannot count towards the multiple child deduction if the child happens to live in the same house as the applicant but the applicant or his or her partner does not care for the child. The second condition requiring that they reside together ensures that a child cannot count towards the multiple child deduction if the applicant is a parent of the child but the applicant does not have regular care of the child.

Seanad amendment No. 4 amends section 9(3) to clarify that information, that is, the name, PPS number and date of birth, should be provided in the application form only for children in relation to whom the applicant or the applicant's partner is a parent. Seanad amendment No. 5 amends section 13(5) to clarify that when making regulations on the multiple child deduction, only children who reside with the applicant or the applicant's partner and in relation to whom the applicant or the applicant's partner is a parent should be counted.

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