Social Welfare Payments
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-24
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Dara Calleary (FF), Mayo

I assure the Deputy that we are very focused on child poverty. I am not just waiting; we are doing a lot of consultation on what a second tier of child payment might look like. One of the models that is most quoted would result in potentially thousands of families getting lower income on that model, so it is important that we review all the options.
We moved last year in budget 2026 to increase the child support payment by €16 and €8. That was a record increase. We are negotiating with the Department of public expenditure in relation to the child support payment for this year. That goes directly to the lowest income families. As I said, we also increased the threshold for the working family payment last year and we added the fuel allowance to the working family payment. It was first time people who were in work were able to access the fuel allowance. That was worth, given the extended season, about €1,100 per year to those working families.
We are doing the work on what a second tier of payment might look like but we are also ensuring those families are getting payments and support when they need it most. We will continue the work. I do not want a situation where, potentially, up to 100,000 families are worse-off because we introduced a second tier of child payment. That is not going to happen. In the meantime, we are supplementing their working incomes as well.

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Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:50+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-24