asked the Minister for Social Welfare the reasons persons on unemployment benefit are not granted a dependent allowance for children aged 18 who are still in full time schooling.

53.

asked the Minister for Social Welfare whether the dependent child allowance, payable in respect of children over 18 years who are attending full time education to widows only and excluding old age contributory pensions, is anomalous; if she has any proposals to eliminate this anomaly from the system; and if she will make a statement on the matter.

It is proposed to take Questions Nos. 10 and 53 together.

At present child dependant increases are payable with most social welfare benefits and pensions in respect of children up to the age of 18 years. However, for the purposes of widow's pension, deserted wife's benefit and allowance, prisoners wife's allowance and unmarried mother's allowance, child dependant increases continue to be payable in respect of children up to the age of 21 years if they are receiving full-time education. The extension of the age limit also applies in the case of widows receiving invalidity, retirement or old age contributory pensions. The measure was introduced in recognition of the special needs of widows and other one-parent families. The position in relation to child dependent increases was considered in the context of the rationalisation of the system of child support payments which was to be achieved through a full child benefit scheme.

The recommendations of the Commission on Social Welfare however are at variance with the notion of a unified child benefit scheme. In the specific area of child dependant increases the commission argue that they are an effective mechanism of targeting resources selectively. The commission considered that these increases should be retained but that in the long term there should be a modest relative shift towards child benefit and away from the child dependant increases.

The whole area of State support for persons with families, including the age limit for the payment of child dependant allowances, in now being re-examined in the light of the commission's recommendation and I am not in a position at this stage to say what the outcome of this examination will be.

Is the Minister aware that there are many children of 18 years and upwards who are attending full time education and whose parents are in receipt of unemployment or other benefits? Would she agree that such people are entitled to child dependant allowances?

A great number of social welfare schemes were introduced to cover groups which were considered to have specific needs. Since I became Minister for Social Welfare I have been asked to extend these schemes to other people. Each request has enormous financial implications. That is one of the factors that has to be taken into account as the Deputy will agree. The majority of the questions I answered today involved enormous additional expenditure. However desirable it might be for all young people over 18 years who are in full time education to be treated in the same way as the children of widows, unmarried mothers, prisoners' wives and so on, it is a difficult proposition in the light of the report of the Commission on Social Welfare and of the considerable extra resources which would have to be found.

Surely the person who is unemployed is in greater need than some of those other people? If they have children of 18 years and upwards in full time education, surely they should be entitled to the child dependant's allowance because at that age these children are an even greater expense on the family. In those circumstances, these parents are entitled to such benefits. Would the Minister look at this matter very urgently and extend this allowance to the dependants of unemployed people?

While all these issues may be very desirable, there is the question of cost to be taken into account. Earlier questions referred to people of the lower rate getting increases while other questions referred to people losing money under the equality Directive, but every question involves extra expenditure. Obviously all these matters are considered very carefully but we are in a very tricky financial position.

A final supplementary.

The Deputy got the information and no doubt he knows how to use it.

One supplementary.

This is not the place to make an argument.

Would the Minister agree that there is an anomaly here?

I have already answered that.