Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 333: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs further to Parliamentary Question No. 264 of 1 December 2009, if she will provide the information requested; if she will explore the way in which family payments in Spain are made in respect of resident children only; and if a similar rule can be applied in legislation here. [45798/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Under Spanish legislation it is a condition for receipt of child benefit that the child is resident in Spain. The payments are also means tested. There are similar residency provisions in the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 which, amongst other things, defines a qualified child for Irish child benefit purposes as one who is "ordinarily resident in the State".

In general, child benefits are family benefits for the purposes of regulation EC 1408/71, which is designed to coordinate the social security entitlements of employed and self-employed persons moving within the European Community. Article 73 of this Regulation provides that "an employed or self-employed person subject to the legislation of a Member State shall be entitled, in respect of the members of his family who are residing in another Member State, to the family benefits provided for by the legislation of the former State, as if they were residing in that State......"

This Regulation has direct effect and so overrides the residency conditions in domestic legislation for those covered by the Regulation. It is understood that, with the exception of some one-off payments made on the birth of third and subsequent children, Spanish family benefits are fully covered by EC Regulation 1408/71. Accordingly, as with Irish child benefit, residency conditions cannot be applied in respect of non-resident children where their parents or guardians come within the terms of the EC Regulation in question.