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

I thank the Minister for outlining all the supports and measures that she introduced in this budget. People are grateful for them and they have gone down positively in my community. I thank her for that level of investment. It was interesting to hear the Minister talk about 16 years of age being the cut-off point for child benefit, with an extension once people are still in full-time education. Was 16 years of age set at a time when many people chose to leave school at 16? I started college at 17. I was part of a generation from which many went to college. Now, people are often 18 or 19 when they go to college. Transition year is done much more frequently or people may have started school when they were five or six, so they may now be in full-time post-primary education at 18. There is a gap where we are not supporting parents through that transition. If people then go to college, they may be entitled to the Student Universal Support Ireland grant. There are probably only six months in which those children and young people who are 18 are not getting that child benefit. Could that be looked at, costed or modelled with a view to exploring the idea?

See this speech in context