Child benefit - Reform must tackle inequalities

Few people will dispute the urgent need for radical reform of the inequities of a child benefit system that gives the children of the poorest families in Ireland the same level of support as the children of millionaires.

There should now be meaningful debate on this issue, one that profoundly affects the well-being of thousands of families, following yesterday’s publication of the Mangan report on child benefit and taxation. The question that has to be asked is why the Government has been sitting on this important document, as alleged by Limerick TD Willie O’Dea.

Written by experts at the administration’s request, the report appears to have suffered the fate of many another document, languishing on a ministerial shelf and gathering dust for almost a year. Now finally in the public domain, let us hope it will be implemented.