Child Benefit cut will be 'difficult to swallow' for Labour

The Labour Party has said any cut in Child Benefit in next month's Budget will be a "difficult pill to swallow".

It has been reported that the payment will be cut by €10 per child.

Two Sunday papers claim that the cut in the existing €140 allowance will be right across the board, regardless of age or the number of children in the family.

It is just one of the controversial measures that the Social Protection Minister Joan Burton may have to bring in after the Budget is announced.

Labour Deputy Aodhán Ó Ríordáin has said the Budget has to be fair to everyone.

Mr Ó Ríordáin said: "It's going to be a tough Budget, everybody expects it is going to be a tough Budget. What people want to see is that it is going to be fair.

"There is a mantra about protecting the most vulnerable by a lot of political parties, but we actually believe in it.

"To present that to Labour Party backebenchers, and I am quite sure to Fine Gael backbenchers as well, it would be a particularly difficult pill to swallow unless it is counterbalanced by some other serious measures that protect the same families."