Written answer
Social Welfare Payments
The Minister said direct European comparisons of Child Benefit are difficult, and highlighted targeted supports including increased Child Support Payments and Working Family Payment thresholds. Government aims to reduce child consistent poverty to 3% by 2030, but future measures remain under consideration.
16. Deputy Naoise Ó Cearúil asked the Minister for Social Protection whether his Department has benchmarked child benefit against comparable family-support payments in other European countries; the findings of any such analysis; and the way in which those findings are informing the development of measures to support families and reduce child poverty. [67342/26]
Comment on this
Child Benefit is a universal monthly payment, supporting families with the cost of raising children. It is paid in respect of almost 1.3 million children. Expenditure on the scheme this year will exceed €2.2 billion.
The monthly rate of Child Benefit is €140 for each qualifying child, with higher rates for twins and other multiple births.
Child Benefit policy varies significantly across European countries in terms of payment duration, structure, rate and eligibility criteria. As a result, direct comparisons can be challenging as policies are shaped by differing cultural, economic, and legislative contexts.
The scale and universal nature of Child Benefit means that any increase carries a significant Exchequer cost. Even a modest €5 increase in a monthly Child Benefit would cost over €75 million.
The focus over recent years has been to target families with children through payments linked to household circumstances.
For example, Child Support Payments are paid with most weekly social welfare payments to support low-income households with dependent children. As part of Budget 2026, weekly rates increased by €8 to €58 for children under 12 and by €16 to €78 for children over 12. These payments provide additional support to approximately 330,000 children.
Budget 2026 also increased the weekly income thresholds for Working Family Payment by €60, helping existing recipients and allowing more low-income working families to qualify. At the end of August, the average weekly payment on the scheme was €190.
In September 2025, Government agreed a new child poverty target to reduce the child consistent poverty rate to 3 per cent or less by 2030. This ambitious target represents a reduction from the rate of 7.8 per cent. The target is guiding cross-Government action on child poverty and helps ensure resources are directed to families most in need.
In addition, the Child Poverty and Well-being Programme Office has also developed a Dashboard of Indicators to complement this target and measure child poverty in a more holistic way.
I was pleased to see a reduction in the Central Statistics Office Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) 2025 of national child consistent poverty, from 8.5% in 2024 to 7.8% in 2025, equivalent to an 8.2% reduction year-on-year, and reflecting the impact of Government measures to date.
The development of measures to support families and the reduction of child poverty remain at the heart of considerations throughout the annual budgetary process, taking account of available resources.
Government priorities and the overall budget package of social welfare measures are still under consideration.