Crackdown on Child Benefit under way

PARENTS will have to prove that they live in the country and are entitled to the Children’s Allowance as part of a crackdown on payments to families who are no longer living in Ireland or cannot prove habitual residence here.

Minister for Social Protection Éamon O Cuív will issue letters to about 120,000 families asking them to prove they still live here and fulfil the criteria for Child Benefit.

Up until May 2004 Children’s Allowance was granted to all children in the country regardless of the earnings or status of their payments.

But the rules changed and the right was removed from parents who could not prove habitual residence.

This was strongly criticised by the Children’s Rights Alliance, the Vincential Refugee Centre and the Free Legal Advice Centre (FLAC) who said it put these children at risk of poverty because of the legal status of their parents.

Mr O Cuív said the current initiative is about “ensuring the records are up to date”.

He said the process, which will take place on a phased basis over the summer “means payments are not being made to people who have left the jurisdiction”.

He said: ” In this way we are ensuring that the resources we have are going to those who need them.”