Child Benefit RIP

PACUB says proposed abolition of child benefit is 'frightening'

PACUB says the proposed abolition of child benefit in the National Recovery Plan published today November 24th, and its replacement by a new two-tier child income support scheme is ‘frightening’. Without any details of the new payments, parents are worried that the base rate of child income support for all but the poorest families could be quite low.

“We have been living in fear for the past year, first we are told that we have turned a corner, but now it is nothing but doom and despair,” says PACUB spokeswoman Niamh Kelly. “Why can our Government not be straight with us, and tell us exactly what is happening with child benefit? We don't have the luxury of a bailout - I have four children and a fifth on the way, how am I going to pay for doctor's fees, nappies, prescriptions, shoes, food, school books? What do I tell my children this year for Christmas? I urge the Government to come out and at least be straight with Irish families.”

Also  published today, the Government’s own review* appears to support the contribution of the universal child benefit payment to children’s welfare, accepting that “child poverty did fall over the period of the review particularly at times when the level of (largely) universal support was increased.  Child income support spending clearly contributed to the reduction in child poverty over the period of the review.”  So why abolish it?

*A Policy and Value for Money Review of Child Income Support
and Associated Spending Programmes

This press release was issued on November 24th