Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is encouraging to hear the Minister refer to an average payment of €140 per week for those families who qualify for this payment. It is important that we encourage any family who believe they may be eligible for the working family payment and are not currently in receipt of it to look into the matter and apply for the payment. Does the Minister have any idea of the number of families who would be eligible but may not have applied for the payment? It would be good if the Department were to undertake an information campaign around the working family payment to target information at relevant families. This could be done through GPs, schools and community centres. I am guilty of not realising until recently that someone may qualify for the working family payment if he or she is an apprentice moving between off-the-job training in an education centre and on-the-job training at an employer's workplace. That is great and it is a good support for apprentices who have children. It might be one of the lesser known facts of this scheme that apprentices with younger families might qualify for the payment. I commend the Minister on all the work she is doing in this area. I hope we can encourage more families to avail of this payment.

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