Patricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein)
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1121. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will expand the children’s allowance scheme to include all 18-year-old secondary school children; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29939/22]

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 16 years.  The payment continues to be paid in respect of children until their 18th birthday who are in full-time education, or who have a disability.

Child Benefit is currently paid to over 631,000 families in respect of almost 1.2 million children with an estimated expenditure of more than €2.1 billion in 2022.

There are currently no plans to extend Child Benefit in respect of full-time students in second level education who are over 18 years of age.  Such an extension would have significant cost implications and would have to be considered in an overall budgetary context.

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 22, including:

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

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

- 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.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Patricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein)
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1122. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection when the rule was introduced that children over 16 years of age in full-time education have the payment of child benefit suspended for the summer months and reinstated by application if they return to full-time education; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29941/22]

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 16 years.  The payment continues to be paid in respect of children until their 18th birthday who are in full-time education, or who have a disability.

Child Benefit is currently paid to over 631,000 families in respect of almost 1.2 million children with an estimated expenditure of more than €2.1 billion in 2022.

Child Benefit was introduced for children aged over 16 who remain in education by Part 6 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act of 1973. 

Payment of Child Benefit for the summer months will continue where the school has certified that the child will remain in full time education.  Where the school has not certified continuing education the payment will be temporarily suspended and the claimant will be advised to confirm continuing education in the Autumn.  This is a well established practice that predates the transfer of Child Benefit to its current IT system in the early 2000's.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Patricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein)
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1123. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will extend the Tús scheme to a two-year programme or at least allow the option of an extra year; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29943/22]

Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
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Tús is a targeted activation measure delivered as short-term, community-based work placements for jobseekers who have been unemployed a year or more, that provides opportunities to participants for a duration of one year.

As a first-step activation measure for people who have become long-term unemployed, the objective of Tús is to move participants closer to the labour market, through the provision of structured work opportunities within their community, lasting one year.  The aim is to support participants find employment on completion of the programme.

If participants are still unemployed on completion of their Tús placement and continue to require the option of supported employment, further opportunity in this regard is provided by my Department through the Community Employment (CE) scheme.  The commencement of a CE placement is available as a progression path for a jobseeker on the completion of Tús, and this can be accessed with the assistance of an employment support officer in their local Intreo centre. 

I trust this clarifies matters.