Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputy for the question. As we discussed offline yesterday, it would be good to start a conversation in this space and it might be something that the social protection committee could look at.

Child benefit is a monthly payment to families with children up to the age of 16. The payment continues to be paid in respect of children until their 19th birthday where they are in full-time education or have a disability. It is currently paid in respect of almost 1.3 million children. Child benefit is paid to the person with whom the child normally resides. Where a child spends time across two households, they are considered to reside in the household where they spend the majority of the time.

Legislation does not provide for splitting the payment between both parents, even in instances where the child splits their time evenly between both households. In cases where the parents have an equal custody arrangement, the payment is traditionally awarded to the mother. There are a number of reasons that this policy position has been maintained. First, various international studies have found that, on average, when the child benefit payment is made to the mother, it results in more money spent on the child than when it is paid to the father. For example, a 2017 article published in the International Tax and Public Finance journal found that more money is spent on food when the mother is in control of child benefits compared to when it is jointly controlled. Similarly, researchers found that when the United Kingdom replaced the family allowance payment to the father with a children's allowance to the mother, it resulted in greater spending on children's clothing.

Second, Safe Ireland, which works with more than 40 specialist domestic violence member organisations across the country, has pointed out that domestic violence, which is overwhelmingly experienced by women, often includes economic abuse and that control of household income can be one of the ways in which this type of abuse manifests itself. Many would argue that directing the child benefit payment to the mother can act to mitigate the impact of this kind of abuse. Finally, in split custody arrangements, it would be challenging to split the payment proportionately on a case-by-case basis. However, this is something that we need to engage with more.

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