Sir, – There is a very simple way of cutting the children’s allowance bill: stop paying the allowance to parents whose children do not live in the State but who are paid our very generous children’s allowance under EU rules. When previously debated this idea was shot down due to EU rules, Here is a way out of this situation which is not discriminatory.
1. Cut children’s allowance to a notional amount at the age of five (school age) – payable annually and collected once to cut down on administration – to say €20 per child. This would stop any claim of discrimination – it would be payable to parents of all children who qualify for the allowance under current rules.
2. Introduce a new social welfare payment called, the Attendance at School Allowance, which by coincidence would match children’s allowance exactly and would be payable only to parents with children enrolled in schools within the boundaries of this State. Exemptions due to illness or children of parents working for the State and having to live outside the State (embassies, armed forces etc) would be allowed. The administration of such a new payment would be well covered by the savings the State would make. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – If child benefit were to be reduced, one way of saving money would be to use cloth nappies.
Not only would one save a fortune but also help the environment (it can take up to 500 years for a disposable nappy to decompose). – Yours, etc,