The scheme, which will not open until October, has increased the top net income threshold to €60,000 meaning more parents will be able to avail of the assistance.

Irish Refugee Council has called on the Government to extend Child Benefit to children in Direct Provision in tomorrow's Budget.

Cash payments work for families. Robert Putnam, the US author of Bowling Alone, quotes research showing that a €3,000-a-year-payment in a child’s first three years improves that child’s academic performance and increases his or her eventual salary by 20%.

"We protected the universal nature of the child benefit during the recession and I don't see why we should change it at this stage."

Low-income parents returning to work will receive increases in child-support payments in the budget, Social Protection Minister Regina Doherty has said.

A senior Minister reportedly intends to push ahead with plans to link child benefit to school attendance.

Social Protection Minister Leo Varadkar is looking at extending child benefit to students who have reached their 18th birthday but are still in full-time education.

Social Protection Minister Leo Varadkar has ruled out any linking of the payment of child benefit to school attendance, despite a commitment in the programme for government to do so.

Social Protection Minister Leo Varadkar has said that he sees no reason to link the payment of child-benefit for under-16s to attendance at schools.

Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin declared “a remarkable turnaround” in Ireland's fortunes, which he said was a tribute to the resilience of the Irish people.

The Tánaiste is looking to increase child benefit again in October's budget.

There are renewed calls for the Government to tackle a multi-million euro child benefit scam, by replacing the payment with a school attendance allowance.

Tánaiste Eamonn Gilmore has reportedly told his Labour Party colleagues that the government will make no further cuts to child benefit.

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.

Government plans to tax maternity benefit have been branded the “nastiest” part of the budget and effectively a “tax on childbirth”.

Child benefit savings recommended by an expert group report have already been largely achieved by the Government, Social Protection Minister Joan Burton has insisted.

Ireland has the highest proportion of children in jobless households in the EU, and they are threatened with a poverty-filled future as austerity damages their prospects, a report has said.

The Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton has said she has made no decision on the findings of a report which recommends a two-tier payment system for child benefit.

Proposed new child benefits capping payments for the better off would worsen the lives of struggling families, a leading anti-poverty group has warned.

Four out of 10 families may see their child benefit cut under new proposals being considered by the Minister for Social Protection.

Proposed changes to the child benefit system are to be published today in a new report on child and family income support.