Child Maintenance Bill 2026
Public bill · Private Member · Introduced
Creates a new out-of-court system for working out child maintenance, with the Revenue Commissioners doing the calculations using standard rules instead of the courts in most cases. Parents and carers would get a notice of the amount, can accept or challenge it, and if everyone agrees it becomes binding and enforceable; if not, the matter goes to court. It also allows for exceptions where the standard formula would be unfair, updates when circumstances change, appeals against Revenue decisions, and penalties for giving false information. The aim is to make maintenance faster, more consistent, and less stressful for families, while helping reduce child poverty.
Formal long title
Bill entitled an Act to provide for the administrative assessment, by the Revenue Commissioners, of liabilities of certain persons to pay periodic maintenance in respect of a child; to provide for a standard methodology for making such an assessment; to provide for the enforceability of such assessments in certain circumstances; to empower the Revenue Commissioners to depart from a standard methodology for making an assessment of child maintenance in certain circumstances; to provide for updated assessments of child maintenance in certain circumstances; to prohibit, in the interests of the common good, the making of certain applications to court unless certain circumstances apply; to provide for appeals from certain determinations and decisions of the Revenue Commissioners; and to provide for related matters.
Last updated 27 April 2026
- First StageSeanad
- Second StageSeanad Current