Charlie O'Connor (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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Question 452: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children her plans for the introduction of the new €1,000 annual payment for children under six announced by the Minister for Finance in the budget for 2006. [2309/06]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The payment to which the Deputy has referred will be made by the Office of the Minister with responsibility for children, and will be administered by the Department of Social and Family Affairs on an agency basis. Discussions between the Office of the Minister with responsibility for children and that Department on the operational details of the payment are in progress. The payments will be to the value of €1,000 per year and will payable on a quarterly basis to all parents of children aged under six. The payment will be effective from 1 April 2006, payable in arrears at the end of the relevant quarter, and it is hoped that the first payments will be made in mid-2006. The payment will generally be made automatically, without the need for application.

Full details regarding the operation of the payment will be announced well in advance of the first payments being made.