CHILD BENEFIT REACTION:CUTS IN child benefit will have a detrimental effect on families, it was claimed last night.
Child benefit will be reduced by €16 per month in 2010 for those not entirely reliant on social welfare. As a result, the rates of payment will revert to 2006 levels.
Frances Byrne, director of the One Parent Exchange and Network, the organisation representing 80 single parent organisations, said lone parents and their children had “effectively been left out in the cold”.
While welcoming the announcement that poor families would be compensated for the decrease in child benefit, it was unclear as to how and when that would happen, she said, adding “we would like the Government to remember that poor children do not exist in isolation . . . they grow up in poor households with poor parents”.
National Women’s Council of Ireland director Susan McKay said mothers on social welfare or working for low pay would bear the brunt of cuts. “Child benefit is a crucial part of family income. Many women will be left wondering if they can afford to continue to work, given that childcare costs continue to rise.”
Jillian van Turnhout, chief executive of the Children’s Rights Alliance, said Budget 2010 was the Government’s opportunity to show it was serious about investing in children and upholding the rights of children.
“The Minister for Finance spoke of having to make ‘very difficult choices’, yet there can be no more difficult a choice than that now forced upon parents with a 10 per cent drop in child benefit,” she added.
Minister for Social and Family Affairs Mary Hanafin said “families with children who are dependent on social welfare will be fully compensated for the reduction in child benefit with a €3.80 weekly increase in the Qualified Child Increase, rising from €26 to €29.80 per week for each child”.
“Low income families who are working and in receipt of Family Income Supplement will also be compensated, through an increase of €6 per child per week in the income thresholds,” she said.