Children’s Minister Roderick O’Gorman said the government must “focus on things with a proven record of reducing child poverty” amid calls for additional means-tested child benefits, reports The Mirror.
New research funded by Community Foundation Ireland and published by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) has found that more than 40,000 children could be lifted out of poverty by introducing a second tier of means-tested child benefit.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said the matter “worthy of consideration”, reports The Mirror.
The proposed reform of the child benefit system would cost around €700 million a year, benefit more than 100,000 families and cut the proportion of children below the poverty line by a quarter.
The Taoiseach told RTE News at One that the budget will focus on child poverty.
He said “no decision” has been made on whether Child Benefit rates will rise as part of the Budget
“I’ve had a chance to just scan the ESRI report on child benefit there. It’s certainly worthy of consideration and I can absolutely guarantee you that one of the themes in the budget is going to be child wellbeing and child welfare and we will have a package as part of the budget that will be aimed at reducing child poverty,” reports The Mirror.
He added: “What ESRI report points out today, which I think is valid, is that a targeted measure targeting children in households where there is poverty and where there’s deprivation would give us a better return on investment than maybe giving every family an extra €5 or €10 a month,” reports The Mirror.
“In terms of income supports and transfers. I’ve always been very strongly of the view that two things that work really well are the IQC and the working family payments,” Minister O’Gorman said, reports The Mirror.
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