Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Trying to establish whether people are in full-time education or not would be hard for us. If they are over 18 years of and are still in second level education, it would be hard to find the data and it could take some time. I am not sure where we would obtain it because people themselves have to declare that their children are still in full-time education at the age of 16. I am always willing to look at other ways in which we can help people so I would say to each of the Deputies that I am of course happy to look at these things. I continue to look at different ways in which we can improve the supports we give to people. I am conscious that there are people who receive no support other than the child benefit support. That is why in this budget the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O’Gorman, included the 25% reduction in childcare costs. A single person on €40,000 will be €800 better off per year as a result of the income tax changes while a couple will be €1,600 better off following the budget changes. Next September there will be free schoolbooks in primary school. There is free transport at the moment. There is a good deal in this budget to support working families. That is a positive thing. I continue to review all the schemes we have to see whether we can make them better. Each year there are more and more welcome changes and I will continue to do that. To answer the Deputies who have raised this issue with me, I will look at it, and I thank them for raising it.

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