Written answers

Tuesday, 8 February 2005

Department of Social and Family Affairs

Child Support

8:00 pm

Photo of Finian McGrathFinian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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Question 343: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if he will work with the Department of Finance on child care proposals (details supplied). [3397/05]

Photo of Séamus BrennanSéamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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My Department administers a number of child income support measures, including child benefit which delivers standard rates of payment in respect of all qualified children in a family regardless of income levels or employment status. Child benefit supports all children but delivers proportionately more assistance to those on low incomes and with larger families. It is not intended primarily to meet child care costs. However, the very substantial increases in benefit in recent years can make a significant contribution to meeting those and other child-rearing costs.

The question of specific support for the costs of child care is a matter for my colleague, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, through whose Department the equal opportunities child care programme under the national development plan is administered.

The Deputy has asked me to consider in particular the following issues with the Minister for Finance: introducing 18 weeks paid parental leave for parents of children under the age of five, to be paid at the same rate as maternity benefit; extending maternity benefit from 18 weeks to one year; alternatively, allowing an element of paternity leave where the father could share the final four months of leave with the child's mother; establishing paid part-time parental benefit for parents of children under the age of 11; and introducing a means-tested parental allowance payment for parents with a child under the age of five.

The legislation which specifies the circumstances under which parental and maternity leave can be taken lies within the responsibility of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform.

Any change in the current provisions for maternity benefit, such as extending the duration of leave from 18 weeks currently to one year, would require changes to that legislation. My Department provides maternity benefit payments to employees only where entitlement to maternity leave has been established.

Similarly, it is likely that any entitlement to paid parental benefit would be contingent on an underlying entitlement to parental leave. Responsibility for the current provisions in relation to parental leave rests primarily with the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and once entitlement to unpaid leave is established, my Department can award credits to protect the social insurance record of the person taking the leave.

The legislation underwriting both maternity leave and parental leave provisions were considered under separate working groups established under the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness. The report of the working group on the review and improvement of the maternity protection legislation 2001 recommended an extra four weeks paid maternity leave, bringing the total entitlement to 18 weeks and four extra weeks additional unpaid maternity leave being the total entitlement to eight weeks. These recommendations have since been implemented.

The report of the working group on the review of the Parental Leave Act was published in 2002 and dealt with the principle of paid parental leave. In its report, the working group said it could not reach a consensus on the issue and therefore no specific proposals for paid parental leave were advanced.

The working group did not specifically address the issue of a payment in respect of part-time parental leave for children under the age of 11 years. It would be necessary to work out both the practical and financial implications of such a measure in a broader framework probably involving the social partners before detailed consideration could be given to this proposal.

The introduction of a means-tested parental allowance payment for parents with a child under the age of five would represent a very significant departure from the current approach in relation to child income support which is based for the most part on the provision of child benefit. Such a measure would in the first instance require a shift in the current approach based largely on universal payments to a more selective approach and second would imply a shift in support toward families with younger children.

In relation to a move in the direction of more targeted child income support such as a means-tested child benefit supplement, following its identification as an issue in the Sustaining Progress national agreement, the National Economic and Social Council, NESC, has undertaken a review of child income support and in particular the possible merging of family income supplement and child dependant allowances into a second-tier child income support payment. This review, which NESC expects to complete during 2005, will inform the development of future policy in this area.

The introduction of an age-related child benefit payment structure has been proposed on a number of occasions in the past and the arguments for specific age related payments are far from clear-cut. Whereas it is recognised that child care expenses might be higher for pre-school children, research has shown that other expenses rise with age.

In recognition of the increased expense encountered by larger families with younger and older children, rates have been structured towards payment of the higher rate in respect of third and subsequent children. This policy provides a consistent level of support to parents regardless of the age of the child.

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