Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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Question 365: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the rules governing the payment of child benefit to parents who are EU citizens residing and working here but whose families and children are residing in their home country; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37994/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Child Benefit is payable to children who are ordinarily resident in the state or who reside with a qualified person outside the state, while that person is a member of the defence forces, a civil servant posted abroad, a volunteer development worker or who remain insurable under Irish Social insurance while working abroad.

EU Migrant workers may have an entitlement to Child Benefit and other "Family benefits" under EU Regulation 1408/71. Where a national of an EU state is working in Ireland, she/he is entitled to payment of these benefits, even if his/her children are resident in the worker's home country.

The social security rights of people living and working in the EU are governed by EU Regulations 1408/71 and 574/72. The Regulations co-ordinate social security systems and are designed to ensure that people are not disadvantaged by moving within the EU to take up work. This is achieved primarily by setting out rules as to which State's social security a person will pay insurance when, for example, s/he moves from one Member State to another to take up work or where s/he lives in one State and works in another. In addition, the Regulations also set out rules as to which State will pay benefit in the event of the usual contingencies arising, sickness, unemployment old-age etc.

The general rule is that a person is insured in the State in which s/he works. Equally, the state of employment has, in general, responsibility for paying benefits when, for example, a person becomes unemployed or ill. The Regulations also provide that, when entitlement to benefit is being examined, account must be taken of insurance paid in any other Member State where the person worked.

For the purposes of the EU Regulation, Irish Child Benefit and Early Childcare Supplement are classified as Family Benefits and there are specific rules governing the payment of these benefits.

Because entitlement to family benefits can often arise in more than one Member State (based on residence and/or employment) the Regulations set out a number of rules in order to determine which country pays family benefits. The main ones are:

Residence requirements in national legislation (such as the habitual residence condition in Ireland) are overridden.

The level of payment of family benefits in the State of employment has priority over the level of payment in the State of residence. If there is employment in two States, the level of payment in the State of residence of the children has priority.

If the level of payment of family benefits in the State of residence is higher than that in the State of employment, the State of residence is required to pay a supplement equal to the difference between the two amounts.

Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Question 366: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the typical average waiting period from date of application, until first date of payment, with specific regard to child benefit in the month of October in each of the years 2000 to 2008; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37997/08]

Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Question 367: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of applications received in the child benefit sections in each of the years 2000 to 2007 and to date in 2008; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37998/08]

Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Question 370: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the average length of time for processing applications for child benefit; if her attention has been drawn to the delays in the processing of same; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38202/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 366, 367 and 370 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 less than 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. This is currently being addressed. There is a total of 7,300 such claims awaiting processing, with a further 1,600 cases which have been partially processed and 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 8,800 such claims awaiting processing, with a further 2,400 cases where the Department is waiting on additional information to finalise the claims. 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.

Details of the average waiting period between receipt of the application and the date of first payment as requested are not available. The processing time for a Child Benefit claim depends on the complexity of the individual claim and the volume of such claims that have been received at that point in time. Based on an analysis carried out in 2003 when the claim process for Child Benefit was automated, it is clear that the processing time for claim for children born in Ireland has reduced due to the automation. Such claims are now normally processed within 3-10 days, but would previously have taken between three and four weeks.

Claims for children born outside Ireland, whether living in Ireland or not, are taking significantly longer to process at present than they did in the period 2000- 2005, this is as a result of the significant increase in such claims since 2006. The number of claims for non-resident children increased nearly twenty fold in the seven year period from 2000, while the total number of claims received is up 50% overall in this period.

The number of Child Benefit claims received in each of the years 2000 to date is shown as follows: