Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 239: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of children covered by qualified child increases. [44717/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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At the end of October 2009 qualified child increases were paid in respect of 336,348 children at full-rate and 111,854 children at half-rate.

Frank Feighan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 240: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs her views on child benefit claims from mothers who are EU citizens and married to Irish born citizens and living here with their Irish born children, if these mothers, regardless of their EU country of origin, are required to produce certificates of residence on a quarterly basis in order to continue to receive child benefit; and if mothers from the United Kingdom, married to Irish citizens and living here, also are required to produce the same certification on a quarterly basis. [44737/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Child Benefit scheme has, in recent years, experienced significant expansion in the volume of claims received, the rates of payment and the diversity of the customer base. The annual cost in 2008 was approximately €2.46 billion and the payment is made to children of some 190 nationalities living in Ireland. Against this background, the control policy for the child benefit scheme has been reviewed to ensure that controls against fraud and abuse of the scheme continue to be effective and relevant. As a result of the review, enhanced and updated control measures have been devised. When implementing control initiatives, the Department is mindful of the need to target those areas that have been identified through Fraud and Error Surveys and on-going control projects as posing the higher risks. Previous Fraud and Error Surveys, on both the Child Benefit scheme and other areas, indicated that non-Irish nationals pose a significantly higher control risk than the overall customer base. All of the non-Irish mothers referred to by the Deputy – and also mothers from outside the EU – are required to produce the certificates.

The certification review process has initially focused on the highest-risk categories of customer and will be expanded to include other customer groups in the future. Currently the certification exercise in Child Benefit takes two forms. Employment certificates are issued, irrespective of nationality, to everyone, including Irish nationals, who are paid under EU regulation 1408/71. The majority of children in this group live outside Ireland. Residency certificates are issued to all non-Irish national claimants, living with their children in Ireland. The Joint Committee on Social & Family Affairs Welfare Fraud report in September 2009 welcomed the introduction of the revised and more frequent residency and employment certification and was encouraged by the savings made so far as a result of these changes.