Varadkar may give child benefit to young adults in school
Mr Varadkar said the issue had been raised by newly elected Fianna Fáil TD Frank O’Rourke, who had pointed out that it was quite common for students aged 18 and older to be still at school.
In a Dáil response last week, the minister told Mr O’Rourke that the child benefit scheme was introduced at a time when few children completed transition year.
Mr Varadkar said he would look at the possibility of extending child benefit to 18- and 19-year-olds who were still in 6th year, but it would have to be looked at in the context of everything else.
Speaking on RTÉ radio yesterday, Mr Varadkar said he would also consider other areas of social protection to see if the €60m needed for child benefit for all 18-year-olds could be better spent.
He also announced that the carer’s support grant, formerly known as the respite care grant, is to be paid to 86,000 carers on Thursday.
The grant is automatically paid to some carers, but the minister urged all carers to apply for the grant.
Mr Varadkar said carers who provided full-time care for more than one person might also be entitled to €1,700 for each person they cared for.
The estimated expenditure on the carer’s’ support grant this year is €157.6m. Mr Varadkar said that the payment had been reduced by €325 because of the economic crisis.
The head of communications at Family Carers Ireland, Catherine Cox, welcomed the restoration of the payment that had been cut by 19% three years ago.
Ms Cox said there were more than 200,000 carers in the country, and she believed a significant number did not realise that they were entitled to claim the payment.
She was also concerned that cuts in home help hours by the HSE was having a huge impact on family carers.
“It is very difficult for carers to take a respite break if they are not getting the support to allow them to do that,” said Ms Cox.
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