Outrage if child benefit taxed, warn parents

PARENTS have warned the Government there will be national outrage if child benefit is taxed in December’s Budget.

While Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy has made no decision yet on the move, it is being considered as a way of raising public finances.

In the past, governments have steered clear of taxing the children’s allowance, as it was previously known, but the National Parent’s Council (Post Primary) warned they would not stand for such a drastic measure. Council president Michael O’Regan said it was one of the worst proposals he had heard in his life. “In many homes, the mother is solely dependent on this money for sending children back to school every year,” he said.

“Many families save it in the post office every month and take it out at the end of the summer. To think anybody would dream of taxing it, there would be complete outrage around the country,” said Mr O’Regan

The coalition Government significantly increased benefits during its first five-year term, to almost 120 a month for each of the first two children in a family and 150 for third and subsequent children.

Mr O’Regan said the recent cutbacks in education were bad enough without having child benefit being taxed as well. He also criticised the publication of figures this week showing that fee-paying schools provided far more university entrants than other schools last year, saying it is tending towards league tables of schools. But Mr O’Regan said it also highlighted a two-tier education system.

Teachers Union of Ireland president Derek Dunne said the question of extra resources for schools with disadvantaged pupils was also raised again by these figures.

“Minister Woods reduced the pupil-teacher ratio when he was in office, but the purpose was defeated by giving additional staff to every school instead of putting even more teachers in the schools that needed them most,” he said. Mr Dunne said highlighting the success of private schools did

nothing to highlight the fantastic work of publicly-funded schools, where most of the fee-paying students attended before their Leaving Cert year.

Labour leadership candidate Pat Rabbitte also hit out at spending cuts in education yesterday, saying they would hit deepest where people are most vulnerable, in disadvantaged communities and in families which need the lift education can bring.

He said the measures to reduce spending fly in the face of the FF/PD government programme, which promised to expand teacher training and improve teacher supply; implement supports to assist schools in areas of significant disadvantage; recruit and retain teachers, and ensure reducing absenteeism and early school-leaving is a core priority.