Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent)
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895. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will consider making child benefit payable to families with children over the age of 18 enrolled in secondary school in recognition of the higher cost of education in the senior cycle and as a measure to prevent early school leaving; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32993/20]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, 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 sixteen years. The payment continues to be paid in respect of children until their eighteenth birthday who are in full-time education, or who have a disability. Child benefit is currently paid to over 638,800 families in respect of over 1.2 million children with an estimated expenditure of more than €2 billion in 2019.

There are no current plans to extend the payment in respect of students over the age of eighteen in second level education. Families on low incomes may be able to avail of a number of social welfare schemes that support children in full-time education until the age of twenty two, including:

- Increase for a Qualified Child (IQCs) with primary social welfare payments;

- the Working Family Payment for low-paid employees with children;

- the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance

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

As part of Budget 2021, I increased the rates for a qualified child under 12 by €2 to €38 per week, and for qualified children of 12 or older by €5 to €45 per week (from January 2021). This was in recognition of the higher costs associated with older children.

Extending child benefit in respect of full time students in second level education who are over eighteen years of age would have significant cost implications and would have to be considered in an overall budgetary context.