Childcare supplement to be paid in August not June, says Lenihan

The first instalment of the €1,000 childcare supplement is expected to be paid in August rather than June, the Dáil was told.

Minister of State for Children Brian Lenihan said that as with any other payment scheme, care was taken at the planning stage to ensure it would be streamlined.

This was to facilitate the recipients so that, for example, they could have their payments paid directly into bank accounts or through post offices if that was preferred, he added.

"I assure the House that, having decided that the Department of Social and Family Affairs will be the agency through which my office will administer the early childcare supplement, officials from my office have been in contact with the relevant officials in that department since the supplement was announced in Budget 2006.

"At this stage, plans for the introduction of the scheme are well in hand, as is the draft legislative provision, which I expect will be published shortly in the Social Welfare and Pensions Bill."

Mr Lenihan, who was speaking during the resumed debate on the Finance Bill, said it was his understanding that the department would be in a position to make the first supplement payment in late August, with the second payment, due in September, being paid at that time.

Fine Gael's Bernard Durkan warned about the implications of the Government failing to provide adequate community care following the proposed closure of psychiatric hospitals.

"Perhaps we will shortly hear that the various psychiatric institutions will be sold for urban development or apartment complexes. As one who has spent some considerable time on a health board, I hope the promised community care follows. If it does not, the other side of the House, and everywhere else, will reap the whirlwind."