Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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526. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the estimated cost per annum of extending entitlement to child benefit up to a person reaching their 19th birthday provided they are still in secondary education; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13571/17]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Child Benefit is a monthly payment made to families with children in respect of all qualified children up to the age of 16 years. The payment continues to be paid in respect of children up to their 18th birthday who are in full-time education, or who have a disability. Child Benefit is currently paid to around 627,000 families in respect of some 1.2 million children, with an estimated expenditure of over €2 billion in 2017.

The current estimated annual cost of extending the upper age limit for payment for those persons reaching their 19^thbirthday and in secondary school, based on figures from the Department of Education and Skills, is over €62 million. It is important to note that this costing will change based on the number of 18 year olds in second level education at a given point in time and will increase or decrease depending on student numbers.

Budget 2009 reduced the age for eligibility for Child Benefit from 19 years to less than 18 years. A value for money review of child income supports, published by the Department of Social Protection in 2010, found that the participation pattern of children in education supports the current age limit for Child Benefit.

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 19 years of age if adopted would not be a targeted approach given the universality of Child Benefit. The adoption of such a proposal would have significant cost implications and would have to be considered in an overall budgetary context.