Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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Question 322: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if, in view of the rising cost of living and the serious difficulties families have trying to cope, it would be possible to pay the children's allowance twice monthly; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18548/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Child benefit (CB) is the principal means of providing support to families with children. It is neutral vis-À-vis the employment status of the child's parents and maximizes choice for parents. Child benefit is paid monthly in advance to 582,600 families is respect of over 1,118,000 children.

At present there are no plans to move child benefit to a twice monthly payment. It should be noted that CB is paid in advance and if payments were made on a twice monthly basis the recipient would receive some payments at a later date than is now the case. A move to twice monthly payments would also have significant administrative implications, including additional costs.

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 323: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the progress made in regard to the commitment given in the Programme for Government to extend the age allowance to qualified adults over 80 years old. [18581/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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There are two main commitments in the Agreed Programme for Government, which relate to pensioner qualified adults. These are as follows:

i. Complete the scheme introduced in Budget 2007 to provide a personal pension payment for pensioner spouses in receipt of the Qualified Adult Allowance. The payment will be set at the level of a full rate Non-Contributory State Pension and the income limits will be improved to enable more people to qualify for it.:

ii. Extend the Age Allowance to Qualified Adults over 80 years old.

In Budget 2008, the first of these commitments was prioritised and significant progress was made in this regard. The pensioner qualified adult payment increased by €27 (15.6%) per week, bringing the payment to €200 per week, or just €12 short of the level of the State Pension Non-Contributory. This measure will cost approximately €52.8 million in 2008 and ensures that we are well on the way to completing this Government commitment. Beneficiaries of this special increase include contributory pensioner qualified adults aged 80 or over.

This is the first year of the Programme for Government and good progress has been made in addressing a wide range of issues set out in the programme. Any further progression of these commitments will be considered over the lifetime of the programme.