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.