Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Question 121: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of applications in respect of child benefit waiting to be processed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34491/08]

Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Question 137: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the average length of time for processing applications in respect of child benefit; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34490/08]

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 152: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the reason for the delay in processing applications in respect of child benefit; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34492/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 121, 137 and 152 together.

There is no delay in processing the majority of Child Benefit applications. Awards on behalf of Irish born children are processed either automatically or in a partially automated way using the child's birth details when they are registered with the General Registrar's Office. The average processing time for these claims is 10 days. Payments on behalf of some 65,000 children were paid this way in 2007.

Currently there are delays in processing Child Benefit claims for children born outside Ireland who have come to live in Ireland with their parents, and also claims for children who reside in another EU member state but have an entitlement to Irish Child Benefit under EU regulations (non-resident children).

In the case of non-Irish born children resident in Ireland, these cases are slower to process as the customer must satisfy the Habitual Residency condition test and this may entail contacting employers, the Department of Justice and other relevant bodies to confirm their status in the state. The residence of the children in Ireland must also be confirmed. This additional complexity, combined with an increase in the volume of applications received in recent years, has led to arrears of claims to be processed, which is currently being addressed. There is a total of 7,500 such claims awaiting processing, with a further 1,600 cases where the Department is waiting on additional information to finalise the claims. Additional staff resources have been assigned to this area and it is envisaged that all claims on hand will be cleared in the early part of 2009. Average processing time for these claims at present is 10 months.

EU nationals who come to work in Ireland but whose families remain in their home country may have an entitlement to Family Benefits in Ireland under EU Regulation 1408/71.

Before payment of Child Benefit is made for these non-resident children it is necessary amongst other things, to contact the authorities in the country of residence of the children to confirm details and establish what, if any, family benefits are payable in the home country as this will determine entitlement to Irish payments. This process can take a number of months to complete in normal circumstances.

There are some 11,500 claims in respect of non-resident children on hand and awaiting finalising. These claims are being processed with the assistance of additional temporary staff recruited for this purpose. It is anticipated that these claims will be cleared during the first half of 2009. At this point it is taking an average of 18 months to process these claims to completion.