Thomas Gould (Cork North-Central, Sinn Fein)
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620. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of people refused carer’s allowance in the first six months of 2025 due to exceeding the income threshold. [38830/25]

Mark Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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621. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of letters that issue each year from the child benefit section as part of ongoing control measures to ensure parents remain eligible for child benefit payments; the number of letters that issued respectively in 2022, 2023, 2024 and to date in 2025; the postal cost of those letters in each year; the reason there is no option for parents to return the form electronically; if he intends to provide such an option; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38843/25]

Mark Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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622. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of parents that had their child benefit stopped in each year from 2022 to 2024, and to date in 2025, due to a failure to return a posted control measure form in time; of those stopped, the number that subsequently had their payment reinstated; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38844/25]

Mark Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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623. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if his Department has access to school attendance records from the Department of Education and Youth for the purposes of child benefit control measures; the action his Department takes with the school attendance information it collects as part of ongoing control measures; if the information collected is cross-checked against school records; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38845/25]

Mark Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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624. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the saving from child benefit control measures in each year from 2022 to 2024, and to date in 2025; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38846/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 621 to 624, inclusive, together.

Child Benefit is a monthly payment to the parents or guardians of children under 16 years of age. Child Benefit can also be claimed for children aged between 16 and 18, if they are in full-time education or full-time training or have a disability and cannot support themselves.

As of 30/06/2025, Child Benefit was in payment to 681,000 customers in respect of 1.27 million children.

The main control mechanism for Child benefit is the Continuing Eligibility Certificate (CEC) process. Customers are issued with a certificate every 12-18 months. A customer will have to return this certificate within 28 days to ensure continued eligibility.

The number of certs issued and the associate postal cost per item is shown in the table below:

I trust this clarifies the position for the Deputy.