Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The Programme for Government includes the commitment to explore a targeted child benefit payment and examine the interaction this would have with existing targeted supports like the Working Family and Child Support Payments. Officials in my Department are working on this commitment.

Child Benefit is a monthly payment to families with children up to the age of 16 years. The payment continues to be paid in respect of children until their nineteenth birthday where they are in full-time education or have a disability. It is paid in respect of almost 1.3 million children. Expenditure on the scheme is estimated at over €2.2 billion in 2025.

It is important to note that, in addition to Child Benefit, families on low incomes may be able to avail of other social welfare payments:

• the Child Support Payment with primary social welfare payments, €62 per week for those aged 12 and over, and €50 per week for under 12s.;
• the Working Family Payment for low-paid employees with children; and
• the Back-to-School Clothing and Footwear Allowance.

The ESRI has proposed a model for a Second-Tier Child Benefit which would abolish the existing Child Support Payment and remove core conditions for the Working Family Payment, involving a cost of €770m a year. It is important to note that the second-tier payment, as proposed by the ESRI, involves an entire re-engineering of current working age supports.

The ESRI analysis states that under its proposal, up to 100,000 children could see losses in household income, while 233,000 would experience gains. Further work is required to definitively quantify the number of people affected either way.

The impacts of any new second tier payment on work incentives, the labour market and existing Child Support Payment recipients needs to be carefully analysed. This work is complex and will take time to complete.

We know, based on ESRI research, that increases in the Child Support Payment and Working Family Payment are very effective at tackling child poverty, given that they provide targeted assistance that is directly linked to household income, thereby supporting low-income families with children. This is why payment rates of the Child Support Payment and weekly thresholds for the Working Family Payment were increased significantly in Budget 2025, amongst other measures.

For Budget 2026, the Government has emphasised the importance of directing support to families with children where it is most needed. The Government is committed to reducing child poverty and is looking at all options in this regard. There are a wide range of possible approaches, and we want to ensure these are given full consideration in the context of the Budget.