Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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Question 61: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if his Department has statistics on the level of child care entitlements similar to the new child care supplement for under sixes being claimed by Irish nationals in other EU member states. [4678/06]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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EU Regulations 1408/71 and 574/72 set out a number of rules to determine which country pays family benefits. The rules provide that the amount of family benefits in the state where a person works has priority over the amount of payment in the state where a person lives. If the amount of family benefits in the state in which a person lives is higher than that in the state in which she or he works, the state where the person lives provides a "top-up" equal to the difference between the two amounts. If the parents work in two different states, the state where the children live will pay family benefits and the other state will pay a top-up if their benefits are higher.

My Department does not have any information on the number of Irish nationals residing in other member states with their families who claim family benefits or child care entitlements from those countries. In such cases family benefits are provided under the national legislation of the member state concerned and are not affected by the EU rules. There are currently some 125 people receiving a supplement from my Department in accordance with EU rules on top of family benefits received from another member state in respect of their children resident in Ireland. This arises where Irish family benefits are higher than the corresponding benefits in the other member state. However, figures are not available where the amount of Irish family benefits is lower than that paid by another member state in respect of Irish resident children and, as a consequence, no supplement is payable.

From the information available, I understand that a number of EU member states incorporate a child care supplement within the structure of their family benefits systems. These countries include Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Finland and Sweden. Such payments are co-ordinated under the EU regulations.