Child benefit increase could net parents an extra €60

Irish parents could receive an extra €60 in child benefit next year. Tánaiste Joan Burton is calling for an increase of €5 per month ahead of the Government's final pre-election budget. Speaking to The Irish Times about the proposed increase, which would be the second in two years, the Minister for Social Protection said:

“It applies equally to people in and out of work, so it doesn’t impact on the attractiveness of work. It allows families choices in relation to whether or not some of it would be used for the general cost of children or for paid childcare. I’m anxious to improve it again.”

Meanwhile, more than 30,000 parents in Ireland will lose their one parent family payments from this Thursday, July 2 as part of a plan to move lone parents onto jobseekers allowance after their child turns seven. Defending his decision to put the plan into action now, Taoiseach Enda Kenny said:

"We cannot allow a recovering economy to bypass thousands of families who are locked into jobless households. "Those jobless households with children are at a particular risk of perpetuating a cycle of poverty that goes on from generation to generation."