Willie Penrose (Westmeath, Labour)
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Question 83: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children the latest estimate or assessment available to her Department in regard to the planned introduction of the early childcare supplement of the likely number of claims that could be made in respect of children not resident here and the estimated cost in respect of such payments; the procedures which will be put in place to ensure verification of claims made; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17372/06]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The Early Childcare Supplement, or ECS, was introduced in Budget 2006. The scheme is under the remit of the Office of the Minister for Children. The administration of the scheme is being undertaken by the Department of Social & Family Affairs, on an agency basis.

The scheme is a universal one and all parents or guardians of children up to six years of age are eligible. It is expected that over 260,000 families will qualify for the Supplement in 2006, in respect of over 350,000 children. Funding amounting to €265 million has been allocated to the Office of the Minister for Children for the ECS in 2006, and in a full year it is estimated that the cost will be in the region of €350 million.

Eligibility for the ECS is identical to that for the Child Benefit scheme, in that parents who receive Child Benefit in respect of children under the age of six will also receive the Early Childcare Supplement. Both schemes fall within the definition of a "family benefit" under EU Regulation 1408/71. One practical effect of this is that where a national of an EU state is working in Ireland the worker is entitled, if she or he has a family resident in the EU, to payment of this benefit.

This situation is the same as for the Child Benefit scheme. The Department of Social & Family Affairs is currently making Child Benefit payments to 700 families, in respect of approximately 1,400 children, where the children are resident in another state covered by EU regulations. About 490 of these children are aged under six years and will be eligible for payment of the ECS. The vast majority of these children are resident in the United Kingdom, most of which are in Northern Ireland.

In addition to this stock of cases, figures supplied by the Department of Social and Family Affairs indicate that the weekly intake of Child Benefit claims in respect of non-resident families currently varies between 300 and 400. It is estimated that these families will have a total of approximately 200 children under the age of six. It is likely that many of these claims are from workers who have been present in Ireland for some time, but who were unaware of their entitlement to Child Benefit prior to recent media attention. If this is the case, the rate of new claims would be expected to decline over the course of the year. If however the rate remained constant, ECS payments of €9.5 million would have accrued by the end of 2006, which would be 3.6% of the total projected cost of the Supplement this year. It is likely however, that only between €1 million and €1.5 million of this would be paid by the end of 2006 — less than 0.5% of projected expenditure. This is due to the protracted nature of the claim decision process which involves communication with the authorities in the country in which the family resides.

The Department of Social & Family Affairs operates a strict verification process for Child Benefit claims and this will also apply to the ECS. The work status in Ireland is checked and birth certificates for the children obtained. It is necessary to correspond with the relevant authorities in the country where the family reside to see what entitlements may be in place there and what effect the Supplement will have on payments in both countries. In the course of this correspondence, particulars of the children in the family are re-checked and verified.

Officials are currently reviewing these verification and other control measures currently operated for the Child Benefit scheme with a view to adapting and expanding them as appropriate for the ECS.

As the Deputy will appreciate, it is not possible at this point to forecast with total accuracy the future number of non-resident children qualified for this payment. This will depend on future immigration flows, the numbers of immigrants who bring their children with them, the number of immigrants who decide to return home, the number of Irish workers with children living outside the state (e.g. in Northern Ireland) and of course future birth rates. Based on current figures the expenditure in respect of non-resident children is unlikely to be significant in the context of the overall spending on the scheme.