Written answers

Thursday, 6 July 2006

Department of Social and Family Affairs

Social Welfare Benefits

6:00 pm

Photo of David StantonDavid Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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Question 417: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of applications his Department has received to date for the early childcare supplement in respect of children who are resident outside the State; the breakdown of same by nationality; the number that have been processed to date; the estimated cost of the ECS in respect of these children to date in 2006; the estimated cost of same for 2007; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28051/06]

Photo of Séamus BrennanSéamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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There is no application process for Early Childcare Supplement (ECS). The Early Childcare Supplement will be paid in respect of those qualified children who receive Child Benefit from my Department.

Currently Child Benefit is in payment to 737 non resident families for 1332 children. Of these, 481 children are under 6 years and would qualify for ECS. The detailed statistics are as follows.

Country Number of Families Number of Children Number of Children under 6
UK 687 1238 449
Sweden 4 3 2
Spain 7 8 1
Belgium 4 10 5
Austria 1 2 1
France 15 23 10
Netherlands 1 3 1
Poland 10 23 4
Greece 1 1 1
Germany 3 8 3
Italy 2 8 3
Portugal 1 3 1
Switzerland 1 2 0
Total 737 1,332 481

The cost of ECS for non resident children currently in receipt of Child Benefit in 2006 is approximately €105,000. The cost of ECS payments to these children in 2007 is estimated at €420,000. My Department acts as agent for the office of the Minister for Children in this regard.

There are approximately 8,500 Child Benefit claims on hand yet to be processed. The majority of these claims (almost 90%) are from Polish nationals working in Ireland but whose family reside in Poland.

In recent weeks when processing such claims it has been found that a significant number of customers have either left Ireland or have had their families join them here. As a result they will either be paid under domestic legislation or will only qualify for the payment of Child Benefit and ECS for the period of their employment in Ireland. It is too early yet to accurately establish the extent of this development, but it will influence the overall amounts of benefit payable for non resident children.

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