Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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284. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the estimated cost to the Exchequer of restoring child benefit to families with children in full-time second level education but who have reached 18 years of age; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19419/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Child Benefit is currently paid to around 624,000 families in respect of some 1.2 million children, with an estimated expenditure in the order of over €2 billion in 2016. Child Benefit is an important source of income for all families and in Budget 2016 the Government increased Child Benefit by €5 per month, at a cost of €72 million.

Budget 2009 reduced the age for eligibility for Child Benefit from 19 years to less than 18 years.

The cost of extending child benefit to 18 year olds in second level education is estimated at €62.5 million. As child benefit is a universal payment, this proposal would not be targeted. Families on low incomes can avail of a number of provisions to social welfare schemes that support children in full-time education until the age of 22, including:

- qualified child increases (IQCs) with primary social welfare payments;

- family income supplement (FIS) for low-paid employees with children;

- the back to school clothing and footwear allowance for low income families (paid at the full-time second level education rate).

These schemes provide targeted assistance that is directly linked with household income and thereby supports low-income families with older children participating in full-time education.

Extending Child Benefit to students who are in full-time secondary education and who have reached 18 years of age can be examined between now and the budget with the caveat that there are potentially other areas of need that also have to be accounted for.

Any changes to the eligibility criteria for Child Benefit, therefore, would have to be considered in an overall budgetary context.