John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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277. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the reason a person is no longer considered a child at 18 years of age when it comes to qualifying for child benefit yet they are considered a child at 18 years of age when it comes to payment for a qualified child; his plans to address this anomaly; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25482/17]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The legislation underpinning the definition of a child for the purposes of Child Benefit are contained in Sections 219 and 220 of the 2005 Social Welfare Consolidation Act.

As a universal payment Child Benefit provides assistance to eligible families in recognition of the extra costs associated with raising children.

Increases for a Qualified Child (IQCs) are paid as child-related supplements to most weekly social welfare payments in recognition of the need for greater incomes among benefit-dependent households with dependent children.

IQC payments do not of themselves constitute a specific social welfare scheme and entitlement to the appropriate primary adult payment must be established in the first instance.

The legislation is scheme specific because each scheme has a different set of objectives and qualifying criteria.

Extending Child Benefit entitlement to parents of full time students over 18 years of age 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.

Families on low incomes can avail of a number of 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).

I am satisfied 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.