Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 355: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the cost to the State for child benefit payment awarded to persons residing outside the State from 2004 to 2008. [26227/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Under EU Regulation 1408/71 a national of an EU state who is working in Ireland maybe entitled to payment of Child Benefit even if his/her children are resident in the worker's home country. Expenditure on Child Benefit for 2008 in respect of the non resident children of EU workers paid under EU regulations was approximately €20.9m. The figures for previous years were as follows, €4.77m in 2007, €2.9m in 2006, €1.6m in 2005 and 0.7m in 2004.

The total expenditure on Child Benefit (CB) in 2008 was approx. €2.45 billion. The figures or the previous years were as follows, €2.23 billion in 2007, €2.1 billion in 2006, €1.89 billion in 2005 and €1.76 billion in 2004. The expenditure on Child Benefit in respect of non resident children continues to be a small percentage of the overall expenditure.

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 357: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the legal position regarding the entitlement of European Union citizens to claim child benefit here even if their children reside elsewhere in the European Union; the amount of money spent on such payments in 2008. [26263/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Under EU Regulation 1408/71 a national of an EU state who is working in Ireland may be entitled to payment of Child Benefit even if his/her children are resident in the worker's home country. For the purposes of the EU Regulation, Irish Child Benefit is classified as a 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.

The total expenditure on Child Benefit (CB) in 2008 was approx €2.46 billion. The CB expenditure for 2008 in respect of non resident children was approximately €20.9m.