Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 88: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the rationale for not paying child benefit and early childcare supplement to foster parents from the commencement of their foster care arrangement where it is known in advance that the arrangement is to be long-term in nature; and the review that she will conduct of this policy. [18601/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Child benefit is a monthly payment, paid in respect of children up to the age of 16 years. It continues to be paid in respect of children up to and including 18 years where they are in full-time education, or where they have a physical or mental disability.

Prior to April of this year child benefit continued to be paid to the birth parent where a child was placed in foster care, regardless of the duration of foster care or the level of support provided by the birth parent. This arrangement was based on a legislative provision which deemed that the child should be regarded as normally residing with the mother, even where the child had been placed with foster parents.

New arrangements have now been put in place whereby child benefit transfers to a foster parent after a period of six months of foster care. The rationale behind this change is that the purpose of child benefit is to assist toward the ongoing cost of child rearing. However, when introducing the change, it was considered inappropriate to withdraw payment from a parent in respect of short periods of foster care, such as during a period of recuperation from illness in the case of a single parent without family or other supports. Furthermore, it is recognised that the immediate withdrawal of child benefit may have an adverse financial effect on the mother who may, regardless of the duration of the foster care, maintain some level of contact with the child.

Following discussions with the Health Service Executive (HSE) and the Irish Foster Care Association, it has been established that the HSE initially consider the vast majority of foster care arrangements to be short-term placements. In view of this and in light of the fact that legislating for all possible scenarios would be impractical, it was decided that six months represents a reasonable 'lead-in' time before the transfer of child benefit. The foster parent is subsequently entitled to child benefit from the seventh month of foster care.

The early childcare supplement, which is administered by the Department on behalf of the Office of the Minister for children and paid in respect of children under six years of age, also transfers to the foster parent. As it is paid quarterly in arrears, it is paid to the person who was entitled to CB for the majority of the proceeding quarter.

I believe that these arrangements present the most equitable method of administering payment of child benefit in what can be very difficult circumstances for the families concerned.

Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
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Question 91: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs her intentions to issue new guidelines or take other courses of action to clarify the way deciding officers should treat an application for carers respite grant where the claim was made outside the statutory time limit; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18610/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Respite Care Grant is an annual payment made to all persons providing full-time care, regardless of means or PRSI contribution record, but subject to certain statutory conditions. These conditions relate primarily to employment outside the home, the provision of full time care as set out in legislation, and the medically certified need for such care.

The Grant is payable from the first Thursday in June of the year in respect of which the application is made and all the qualifying conditions must be satisfied on that date. The majority of Respite Care Grants are paid to people who are in receipt of certain primary social welfare payments, notably Carer's Allowance, Carer's Benefit or Constant Attendance Allowance. In these cases, the Grant is paid automatically without the recipients having to make a specific application for it.

The extension of the scheme to all carers was introduced in Budget 2005. This provided that people who are providing full-time care and attention may qualify for the Respite Care Grant, regardless of primary payment, by making specific application for it. To this end, a new unit was set up in my Department to process applications from this newly eligible category of people.

In 2005, applications for the Grant amounted to 6,813 and of these, some 5,930 were successful. The number of applications in 2006 rose to 13,916 and 10,051 of those were successful.

In 2007, applications fell slightly to 13,564, with 10,959 being successful. Those receiving payment of the 2006 and the 2007 Grant included those who received the Grant the previous year and who confirmed that they continued to satisfy the qualifying conditions.

A recent change was made to the legislation, which has the effect merely of clarifying existing arrangements. There is a requirement under primary legislation that a person must claim their entitlement within a specified period from the date their entitlement arises. In the case of the Respite Care Grant this period runs from roughly mid- April of the year for which the Grant is being claimed to the 31st of December of the following year. The legislation helps to set down more clearly the prescribed time within which a claim for the Grant for a particular year must be made. Claims received outside this time period can also be allowed in certain circumstances, at the discretion of a Deciding Officer where the applicant can show that there is a reasonable explanation for the failure to claim within the prescribed time.

The recent legislative measure does not involve changes to procedures which have been in place since the inception of the newly extended scheme in Budget 2005. Deciding Officers who deal with applications for the Grant have been advised of this.