A second child benefit payment to help children living in poverty is unlikely to be announced in this year’s budget, Minister for Social Protection Dara Calleary has indicated.
There were suggestions at the time of Budget 2026 that the measure, long advocated for by child poverty campaigners and previously proposed by the Economic and Social Research Institute, would be announced this year, but Calleary indicated that proposals would not be ready in time.
“We’ve just finished a public consultation on that,” he said in Mayo, where he was hosting a meeting of European Union social affairs ministers.
[ The Irish Times view on child poverty: Time to actOpens in new window ]
He said officials were examining the submissions, but he was “not sure if we’ll have a presentation ready in advance of the budget discussion”.
READ MORE
He added: “My priority for this budget is a cost-of-disability payment, a permanent cost of disability payment.”
Calleary said child poverty “is a major focus of this Government”. But the news that an additional child benefit payment will not be introduced for at least another year will be a disappointment to charities and campaigners.
Child poverty featured in the discussions in Ballina, where Calleary and his Fine Gael colleague and Minister of State with special responsibility for the Circular Economy, Alan Dillon, hosted an informal council of ministers meeting.
There was heavy security in place for the meeting, which took place in a local secondary school as part of Ireland’s six-month presidency of the Council of the European Union.
Asked about the rise in unemployment reported by the Central Statistics Office on Monday, Calleary said the Government was “constantly watching” and “vigilant” regarding the figures.
He said employment was still expected to grow this year and he encouraged anyone who loses their job to “engage with our activation services early on”.
[ Letters: Clear pattern of child povertyOpens in new window ]
European Commissioner for social affairs Roxana Minzatu, who also attended the meeting, warned of pitting security against social spending in discussions in the next EU budget, which will form a key challenge for the Irish presidency.
“The commission has proposed an architecture and a dimension of the budget that eliminates this notion of competition because we cannot have a Europe that is favouring security by taking resources from social policies that invest in jobs, in the skilling of the people,” she said. “But we cannot invest in jobs and in the education of the people, if we don’t have a Continent that is safe and secure.”
Aughinish Alumina is proving to be a real diplomatic headache
However, the commission’s solution – a much bigger budget – is being resisted by many member states. There is also resistance to the idea of expanding the EU’s “own resources” by allowing it to raise revenue through new taxes.
“It is not only about whether we give more money to social, to education, to people, or to technology, or to innovation, or to security. It is about an architecture and a dimension of the budget that is fit for the challenges with which Europe is confronted,” said Minzatu.
“And that’s why the commission presented a budget that has, you know, a dimension of €2 trillion with proposals from new own resources. Of course, it’s now for member states and parliament to discuss these new resources and find the best solutions ... It’s also for the council, member states, and parliament to find a correct budgetary response for the challenges that Europe has in 2026 and in the years to come.”
Irish officials will be trying to square this circle over the coming months.
