Cecilia Keaveney (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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I raise the matter of the €1,000 early childcare supplement payment announced in the 2005 budget, which commenced for children under six in April 2006. l again seek clarity on the status of this payment as it pertains to all children and ask the Minister to confirm that the current interpretation is treating all children equally in this Republic.

All children under six whose parents are resident in the Republic were to gain from it. However, I have a cohort of people who are cross-Border workers and they feel that their children are not receiving the payment either directly or indirectly. I know that the Six County family benefit system is different from that of the Republic of Ireland and I accept the need for equal treatment of all families, but that is the core of my query tonight. For many years the system favoured the cross-Border worker but with the advent of the early childcare supplement this group is being told that it is not entitled to this supplement, despite the fact that there has been a rebalancing of the levels of basic child benefit payment in the North.

I know the technical answer, as under EU regulations the country in which a parent works is responsible for paying family benefits. If the parents are employed in two different member states, the state in which the children reside is responsible for paying benefits. The other state pays a supplement if the rate of family benefits is higher than the rate of payment in the state in which the children reside.

In the Republic of Ireland, if a person is on a low income he or she can receive family income support, FIS, to bring income level up. This is on top of the €1,000 for the child. If a person works in the Six Counties in a low-paid job and lives in the Republic of Ireland, that person can receive, since April 2003, a child tax credit which brings income up. It is taken to be part of a child's income or benefit and so the child does not necessarily get the €1,000 euro "supplement" unless the other member state determines that a percentage is due. The family benefit supplement payment is the difference between the amount of family benefits in the Republic of Ireland — consisting of child benefit, family income supplement and I assume the early childcare supplement — and Northern Ireland, which has child benefit and child tax credit. I read from this that the child should end up with the same level of financial support but given that it is seen to come a different way, through child tax credits rather than actual cash or cheque, it is not as transparent for those involved.

That is the core of my query. Does this constitute a payment to a child, just as the early child care supplement was supposed to be? Is it possible for cross-Border workers to choose to have their entitlements paid from the country in which they live, thereby giving them the choice and transparency that some of them feel they do not have? Is such a system only available when the two parents are working in different jurisdictions? Perhaps the Department of Social and Family Affairs needs to clear up some of the confusion that exists about whether cross-Border workers can choose where to draw their child benefits. One cannot get the early child care supplement without getting a child benefit payment from the Department of Social and Family Affairs. I have read an e-mail that states that parents can choose where to get their payments. However, people in these circumstances have told me they have been informed they do not have that choice.

This may be a simple case of problems caused by the complexity of the language used by the Departments on either side of the Border. I hope we will start to tear down such barriers on 8 May next, when Northern Ireland will once more be administered locally. As a representative of a Border constituency, I was involved in resolving the taxation issue for the vast majority of cross-Border workers. I trust that the Minister of State can confirm that all our children are being treated equally. The early child care supplement needs to become a reality for them, rather than being lost in bureaucracy.

I welcomed the announcement last June that extra jobs were to be created in Letterkenny to administer the operation of the child care supplement scheme. It was indicated that up to 22 new posts were to be created. We trust that such decentralisation, which has been a huge success, will be followed in the near future by the decentralisation of the Department of Social and Family Affairs to Buncrana. I have spoken this evening merely to get clarity on an issue that is regularly raised with me.

I ask the Chair to show me some latitude in acknowledging the matter that is about to be raised on the Adjournment by Deputy Howlin. I would like to extend very sincere condolences to the Dunne and O'Brien families on the sad losses. I sympathise with PJ and Marian O'Brien, who come from the Burt area of County Donegal, on the loss of their daughter, Ciara, and their grandchildren, Shania and Leanne. The recent tragic events have comprised a very big tragedy for County Donegal, as they have for County Wexford. I thank the Chair for showing me some latitude in commenting on the matter.

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Deputy Keaveney for raising these issues on the Adjournment. I welcome the opportunity to respond as part of this debate. Of course, all children are treated equally when payments of this type are made. The Government decided in the 2006 budget to introduce a major new payment to parents of young children — the early child care supplement — under the remit of the Office of the Minister for Children. The scheme is being administered by the Department of Social and Family Affairs on an agency basis. The supplement consists of an additional payment of €1,000 in a full calendar year that is made to parents in respect of all eligible children under six years of age. Direct and non-taxable payments of €250 per quarter year are made in respect of each eligible child. They are intended to assist parents with the high cost of caring for children, especially in their early years. The parents or guardians of children up to six years of age are eligible for this universal scheme.

Eligibility for the child care supplement scheme is identical to that for the child benefit scheme, which was previously known as the children's allowance scheme. Parents who receive child benefit payments in respect of children under the age of six also receive the early child care supplement. If no child benefit payment is being claimed for a child in this State, no supplement will be paid in respect of that child.

I am pleased to deal with Deputy Keaveney's concerns about the entitlements of parents who work outside the State. When the early child care supplement scheme was introduced in budget 2006, my colleague, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Cowen, said that it was to be "a direct payment of €1,000 per year available equally to all parents regardless of their labour force status, for each child up to his or her sixth birthday". While this comment affirms that the employment status of parents is not a condition under this scheme, it does not suggest that all children under the age of six are entitled to the payment regardless of their residence or nationality.

I will describe how applications made by parents who live in the State but work in another EU state are treated. Deputy Keaveney will be familiar with the cases of people living in County Donegal who are employed in Northern Ireland. The practical application of the scheme is the responsibility of the Department of Social and Family Affairs, rather than my office. The Department, which makes the payment on my behalf on an agency basis, has direct responsibility for other family benefits which are co-ordinated by EU legislation. I will give a simple overview of how this is handled. European Union regulations, notably Regulation 1408/71, co-ordinate the payment of social and family benefits in the cases of migrant and frontier workers to ensure that nobody loses as a result of moving around the EU. Under those arrangements, a frontier worker will receive the maximum family benefits which are appropriate regardless of whether he or she is subject to the legislation of the country of employment or the country of residence. The worker is paid family benefits by his or her country of employment in the first instance. If the payment is lower than the payment he or she is due under the legislation of his or her country of residence, the latter country pays a further payment to bring the total payment up to the entitlement guaranteed under domestic legislation.

I will outline how the system works in practice. A parent in County Donegal who works in Derry is paid the relevant UK family benefits. He or she can contact the Department of Social and Family Affairs in this jurisdiction to make a claim to this State's family benefits such as child benefit and family income supplement. If the total family benefits received by a family from the UK authorities do not meet its combined family benefit entitlement under Irish law, a further payment is issued to it from the Department of Social and Family Affairs to ensure it receives its full entitlement under Irish legislation. That entitlement was increased substantially by the introduction of the early child care supplement for the parents of children under the age of six. The net result is that parents in this position will always be paid an amount that is equal to the higher level of family benefits. They are in an advantageous position when compared to those who live beside them and work in the Republic.

I am happy that the introduction of the early child care supplement has increased the family benefits which are guaranteed under our legislation to all Irish resident parents of children under six years. It is operated in a way that allows cross-Border workers to receive their full family benefit entitlements, both under Irish legislation and in accordance with the relevant EU rules.