Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have certain sympathies with Senator Mooney's position. I can remember as a councillor the amount of non-nationals in particular who approached me for assistance in getting child benefit and whose children were not living in the country but living in the Czech Republic or Poland. One had a situation where a mother or father were residing here for work purposes but the children were living and being educated in their native country and were being minded by a sibling or grandparent. There is something fundamentally wrong with a system that facilitates a scenario like that. I do not have any issue if the children are living in this country with their parents who are working here. They are being educated in this country and are engaging in the culture, sporting activities and learning environment of this country. However, I think most fair-minded people would have an issue if the children are not living in this country. I believe the Minister was trying to get a derogation from Europe on this issue. I would be interested in hearing how successful she was.

If that type of thing and other frauds within the whole area of child benefit and so on can be eliminated, there would be no need for cuts in child benefit and we would be in a position to sustain the current payments and, perhaps, down the road consider increasing them.