Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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128. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection to provide a timeline for the implementation of the Programme for Government commitment to “Explore a targeted Child Benefit Payment”; his views on whether this would result in eligible families getting additional financial support or would the new payment simply replace the working family payment and the child support payment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8525/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Addressing child poverty is a key priority for the Government. That is why the Programme for Government 2025, includes a range of measures to support children and their families.

One such commitment is to “explore a targeted Child Benefit Payment and examine the interaction this would have with existing targeted supports to reduce Child Poverty such as the Working Family Payment and Child Support Payment.”

My Department is progressing this work having regard to the available body of evidence, including the work undertaken previously by the Economic and Social Research Institute, the National Economic and Social Council and the Commission on Taxation and Welfare.

While preliminary work is underway, it is too early to provide a definitive timeline at this point.

I trust this clarifies the position.