Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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452. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the projected cost increase in 2017 if child benefit were paid for those over 18 until they finish full-time second level education. [27516/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Child Benefit is currently paid to around 619,000 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. This costing is based on children turning 18 years in the academic year, it does not include 19 year olds or above that are in second level education.

As Child Benefit is a universal payment, this proposal would not be targeted. It is worth also noting that under EU regulations Child Benefit is defined as a family benefit and is exportable in cases where the claimant is working in Ireland but where the children are living abroad. In 2015, Child Benefit was paid in respect of an average of 7,862 non-resident children of 4,878 families. The total cost of Child Benefit in 2015 in respect of children residing in other EU Member States was €12.7 million. The estimate for 2016 is €13.5 million. We have no way of predicting with any degree of accuracy the potential in-flow in this category for children who turn 18 and remain in secondary education in other Member States.

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.