Call us: Mon - Fri 8:30am - 7pm, Sat - Sun 9am - 5pm
Call local rate
Mon - Fri 8:30am - 7pm | Sat - Sun 9am - 5pm
Call local rate 0330 383 0319
Mon - Fri 8:30am - 7pm | Sat - Sun 9am - 5pm

Irish minister rejects call to scrap child benefit

Joan Burton, Social Protection Minister for the Republic of Ireland, has rejected calls to scrap individual child benefit payments in the country.

Responding to a claim by Children’s Minister Frances Fitzegerald that the money might be better spent of funding extra childcare places, Burton said she was committed to universal payments.

According to a report in the Irish Independent, Fitzgerald said the Irish government currently devotes €2bn, or 10 per cent of its annual welfare budget, to child benefit payments, describing this as a “kind of Celtic tiger thing, with rates increasing for individual payments”.

The 62 year-old minister said that in Scandinavian countries, by contrast, working parents receive subsidised pre- and after-school childcare.

A spokesman for the Social Protection Minister, however, insisted that she was“strongly in favour of universal payments”, and said provision for extra childcare places had been included in next year’s budget.

The blog team at Stowe is a group of writers based across our family law offices who share their advice on the wellbeing and emotional aspects of divorce or separation from personal experience. As well as pieces from our family law solicitors, guest contributors also regularly contribute to share their knowledge.

Leave a comment

Help & advice categories

Subscribe
Close

Newsletter Sign Up

Sign up for advice on divorce and relationships from our lawyers, divorce coaches and relationship experts.

What type of information are you looking for? (Optional)


Read about how we use your data in our Privacy Policy. To opt out at any time, select ‘unsubscribe’ in any of our marketing communications, or email [email protected].

Privacy Policy
Close
Close