Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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172. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if consideration will be given to paying child benefit to fathers (details supplied) as it is automatically paid to mothers; if the policy on this will be changed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17541/20]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Under Section 220 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act, 2005, Child Benefit is payable to the person with whom a qualified child normally resides. Regulations governing normal residence for Child Benefit purposes are contained in S.I. 142/2007 (Article 159) and they provide inter alia for the following:

1.In the event that a qualified child is resident with both mother and father, he or she will be regarded as normally residing with the mother (or step-mother);

2.If mother and father are resident in separate households, the qualified child shall be regarded as normally residing with the person with whom he or she resides for the majority of the time.

Where the persons are resident in separate households the qualified children shall be regarded as normally residing with the person with whom they reside the majority of the time. Where children are resident an equal amount of time with both parent, the children’s mother is deemed to be the qualified person for the purposed of receiving Child Benefit.

The policy to pay to the child’s mother was originally introduced in 1974 in the context of the Children’s Allowance scheme and continued when Children's Allowance was replaced by Child Benefit in 1986. In 1974, approximately 85% of Children's Allowance payments were already in payment to mothers, having been transferred on a voluntary basis by the then qualified person, i.e. the father.

Having advocated this change, the policy to pay Children's Allowance/Child Benefit to the mother was subsequently endorsed by the Commission on the Status of Women (1972 and 1974) as well as by the Child Benefit Review Committee (1995). It was given further support in a commissioned report published in 1994 by Combat Poverty Agency and completed by the Economic and Social Research Institute.

Despite the increased participation of women in the workforce in recent years, Information available from the Central Statistics Office indicates that over 29,000 married women with children under 15 years of age currently classify themselves as ‘home duties’ (Quarterly National Household Survey Quarter 2, 2017). This figure rises to over 36,000 when all cohabiting women with children under age 15 are included.

The above data confirms that there is still a considerable cohort of married/cohabiting women who may not have an independent income other than Child Benefit. It is therefore the Department’s view that the policy to pay Child Benefit directly to the mother, or in this case the step-mother as provided for by the legislation, of the qualified child continues to be both valid and appropriate in the vast majority of cases.

Notwithstanding this, I wish to acknowledge that the specific case cited by the Deputy identifies a number of points. I want to assure the Deputy that my Department keeps this approach under review in the light of societal change including evolving family formation. The Department regularly reviews all of its schemes, including Child Benefit, in order to ensure that they are still delivering on their policy aims and objectives.