Quadruple child benefit payment ‘a good idea’, minister says

By Cillian Sherlock, PA

A child benefit boost for parents of newborns is a “good idea”, a Fine Gael minister has said.

Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys expressed support for a one-off quadruple payment of the support in a child’s early life.

Ms Humphreys also said she wanted to expand the qualification for the fuel allowance.

It comes after Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman expressed support for a one-off child benefit payment of 560 euro for parents in the first month their child is born.

Child benefit is normally at €140 per child.

Asked if she supported Mr O’Gorman’s proposal, Ms Humphreys said that she had discussed the idea with her departmental officials.

She told reporters at the Fine Gael think-in in Tullamore, Co Offaly: “I actually think it’s a good idea.

“But again, these things all have to be considered in the context of the Budget and there’s going to be a lot of kites that would be flown between now and the Budget.

“So I suppose what I plan to do is I’ll try and catch as many as I can, put them in my pocket, and on Budget day, we’ll pull them back out again – and we’ll see what comes out.”

Asked if the proposal was realistically affordable, Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe said he would not emphasise any particular proposal prior to the Budget on October 1.

He said: “There’ll be lots of different options floated in the run-up to the Budget.”

Elsewhere on child benefit, Ms Humphreys said a double payment in December last year was “very popular” in the run-up to Christmas.

“I know myself from doing the shopping, it’s quite expensive by the time you get to the table, and people are feeling it in their pocket.

“So what we want to do is, (we) want to put more money back in people’s pockets, and we want to help them and I will be looking at all of those measures as we put together a Budget.”

Elsewhere, Ms Humphreys also said she was looking at reducing the age of qualification for the fuel allowance.

She said last year’s expansion of allowance to the over-70s last year was a “very welcome measure”.

“This year, I am looking at maybe reducing that age to those over 66 when you retire,” she added.