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A NUMBER OF children’s rights groups have hit out at the now likely cut of €10 to child benefit in next Wednesday’s Budget.
Several newspapers say that the government is likely to cut the payment from €140 per child to €130 when Michael Noonan and Brendan Howlin deliver the Budget for next year.
The measure will come on top of the standardisation of the payment over the next two years that was announced in last year’s Budget making it €140 for every child in a family.
At present the rate after the first two children rises to €148 for the third child and €160 for the fourth and each subsequent child.
This proposed cut to €130 for every child has drawn criticism from various groups as well as the senator Jillian van Turnhout who is also part of the National Youth Work Advisory Committee.
She told TheJournal.ie: “I don’t support cuts to the child benefit unless there is a compensatory measure that is being put in place like free healthcare or free school books so that we could see that children are benefiting in a way.
The senator said there was no logic to cutting child benefit when this had the potential to affect some parents’ ability to care and provide for their children and potentially push more children into the care of the State.
She added: “For me it’s very like the cuts to home help in that you’re pushing people into hospital, you’re pushing people towards services that cost the State more. A more joined-up government should be looking at the impact of the cuts.”
Barnardos chief executive Fergus Finlay said there was a case for reform of child benefit but that this should be phased and he said that the charity opposed a “large cut” to child benefit.
“There is a case for reform – and there is an argument that better-off families could do with a little less child benefit in order that poorer families could get more support,” he said.
“But if the payment is being reformed, this be must be phased in over the next three to four years, and basis of reform must be totally clear.
“Child benefit cannot be reformed simply to save money for the Exchequer, or to give it back to the troika – that would be socially irresponsible.”
Minister or Social Protection Joan Burton had been considering a report which suggested that child benefit be cut to €100 per child with additional supports for those on low incomes but this appears to have been rejected in favour of an across the board cut.
Children’s Rights Alliance legal and policy director Maria Corbett said that her organisation was committed to the idea that child benefit remained a universal payment and said that it was “more important than ever”.
She said: “We accept that the Payment could be reformed to better protect poorer families. However, we refuse to entertain the notion of an arbitrary cut to the Payment, without targeted extra support to poorer families. Until that time, the Child Benefit Payment is off limits.”
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This budget is more than likely going to be tough. Hopefully it will finally get more people out protesting and will lead to this government getting turfed out in to the gutter where they belong.
Not to judge, but is it going to matter who goes in? Do cuts still not need to be made?
Well hopefully if FG/Lab get spanked like FF last time out politicians will finally wake up that they must put the people first in future. Long shot i know. As for cuts I don’t have to say where the first one should be do I. Its costing us billions.
And the kites are flying high now
Billions……social welfare? I agree
Must have been another cabinet meeting on the budget. Second meeting second leak. So much for budget confidentiality.
At least it’s not being leaked by the Bundestag Kerry.
protest marches achieve nothing unfortunately we need a national day of work stoppage to make gov. pay heed , now all the pc people will say we shouldnt do that,.we have no optiom. Once again the gov. dont have the balls to means test childrens allowance
@ Begrudgy
‘will lead to this government getting turfed out’
And no doubt to be replaced with what ?. Bolix Boyd Barrett and his looney lefties all led by the Shinners.
Be careful what you wish for
Don’t wory 2013 will be better…http://youtu.be/YvSr5f-EiBQ & then these lads can take over http://youtu.be/o1On-7ztnL0 (waiting for Ogra thumbs down)
and replaced with what exactly ???
They know and fear what’s coming that’s why they have the riot police or gardai training today in abbotstown, Dublin.
They have they’re little army ready to take on anyone who stands against them, those traitors who only 18 mths ago were slagging the FFailures.
http://www.broadsheet.ie/2012/11/30/pre-budget-riot-training/
this is criminal! but there is no point in giving out about it we need to stand up and do something about it!!!
Criminal?!….. it’s your kid mate, I didn’t have him and I don’t expect people to pay for mine.
you know howsaboutyea at some stage your mother would have gotten child benifit so at some stage in your life you would of benifited from it . so to say its not my child why should i pay for it is wrong . remember once that money was paid to your own mother .
Ah come off it!!
Did you factor this payment in when you decided to start a family or somethin? The sense of entitlement in this country never ceases to amaze me.
I ‘ll give you some advice, look after your own and if you think anybody else will, you are gonna get a surprise.
Adebayo
Kellyann, I see where you are coming from but, times change. I was born into a working class family in 1980, tough times too but I can tell u this for sure, my parents didn’t rely on the state to put food on the table.
i dont either but i think that some people do need it . personally i do not like people that have never worked a day and have children houses the lot . but a lot of people have lost their jobs in the last few years have morgages they cant afford . i just dont like this if you cant have children dont have them . i find it personally very offensive . im a working single mother and i never thought before i had my daughter that i would be left raising my daughter alone . with my wages i take away rent childcare costs food and im left with not a lot . that money keeps my head above the water .
It’s just a shame that the government aren’t going to bring in measures to eliminate this payment altogether to the high earners in our society i.e. the ones who don’t actually need it. This would make the necessary savings for the government and prevent those who really need it from taking the hit. But that would constitute real reform which this government is not capable of delivering.
Exactly Michael! The government has serious issues with means testing, claiming it would be too expensive or impractical, while neighbouring nations do it all the time!
Why not pay it in cash, weekly, at the post office. No show, no dough. I doubt the ladies who lunch would queue alongside the unwashed masses to collect such a trifling pittance
I’m a single mom working 9.30-19.30 Monday-Friday. Would NEVER make it to the post office….
@hella. Saturday. If u were hungry u would make it
Ireland has to be the only country in the world with a so-called Labour Party that pursues right wing policies. Eamon Gilmore is a pathetic little man that has lied his way to power. I don’t know how he sleeps at night. The treacherous little mouthpiece deserves to be hanged for crimes against humanity.
he accused someone of financial treason and pushed himself for taoiseach with a litany of stuff that turned out to be a very big deception indeed, he is finished after this term and has finished his ‘party’ also
but the big pension will be a nice top up to the family income on top of his missus 120k a year
A Champagne Socialist he is
Two reforms are necessary to the system of child benefit. Firstly it needs to be means tested and secondly parents in receipt of same should have to furnish records to show it was spent to benefit children…..and not on booze, fags or lottery tickets !
I agree with means testing but I stop short of big brother monitoring it, I neither smoke drink nor buy lotto tickets why should people like me who spend child benefit on our kids have to furnish the authority’s with what we spend our cb on?
I have a pain in my hole with this country.
Exactly Declan, why would a young family stay here for a life on Welfare ?
A 7% cut in child benefit doesn’t seem to bad.
it is when people who have children are struggling to survive to put food on the table!
U must not have kids or u have 2 much money that ur saying 7% isn’t bad. It’s alot to struggling families. They shouldn’t cut us at all. They cut 10 in last year budget and again this year. Ridiculous!!
It is if you need it to feed your kids .etc .if free medical care for kids under 16 and doctors and drugs etc I would Accept this cut n
What I meant was I doesn’t seem that bad compared to the numbers that were being floated around a few weeks ago.
That’s the point of these exercises pierce, drip feed the worse case scenario then it doesn’t seem too bad. You have taken the bait hook line and sinker. €10 is at least one family meal being taken off the table. But unsecured bondholders get their billions with out fail. It’s sickening to see the government act in such a way.
It is unfair to cut child benefit especially when many family’s are struggling as it is to finance their children’s needs. Every euro counts.People may not agree but I think they could have looked at the bus pass. For example charge a one of fee per year of 100 euros for that they are getting to travel anywhere in Ireland that would not be much to ask in these difficult times. The paying passenger has to endure a hike in their fare from January. The money generated from this fee would bring in quite an amount of money to exchequer.Ten euros might seem small but for a family that is struggling it is a lot of money. That is ten euros per child so if you have three children that is 30 euros down. Where is the fairness in that.
A one off fee of €100… Wasn’t that the household charge? Talk sense you fool.
If you or anyone having children and can’t afford to well DON’T have them .
Child benefit isn’t there so people can pop out babies and rely on that payment to feed and cloth them.
Exactly…
Fine but what happens to children of people whose circumstances have changed. In case you haven’t been paying attention we are living in tough times and a lot of people have lost their jobs recently. What are they supposed to do now? Send the kids back?
Scrap it alltogether
dick
Im sorry that i dont believe in spending my tax money to allow people go out on the piss, and dont say that doesnt happen because some pubs even have “child benefit night” promotions, and off licences put on extra staff that day
Not everyone who gets Child Benefit spends it on booze and fags. Amazingly, there’s a lot of parents out there who use to pay bills and help put food on the table. Shocking, but true.
your a fool ,always on here spouting shit ,not everyone sits in pubs drinking the childrens allowance money ,HOW BLOODY DARE YOU ,you right wing arsehole ,i assume you have no children ,if im wrong my mistake ,but you would not be saying this if you where in the position some of the poorest in our society are living ,this country is turning into a third world country ,and ppl who worked and paid taxes are ENTITLED to this money ,now get off your high horse and leave ppl depending on this payment alone ,maybe you should tell your buddies in the Dail to start scrapping all there perks !!!!!!!!!!!
Entitled, your not entitled to anything, thats whats wrong with this country , everybody thinking they’re entitled to get bailed out left right and centre by the government , life is not a free ride, if people cant afford kids, dont have them, contraception is cheap, depending on a government benefit for anything is a false economy.
Useful input as usual Stephen, Troll
Gotta love the journal
“Ohh you have a different opinion on where tax money should go than the average left leaning working / lower middle class person, you must be a troll”
Aslong as im paying tax then i have the right to say where I think it should go, the day I become a tax exile you can have whatever you want for the “less fortunate”
in the build up to the referendum “children first” the government spouted now they want to put more pressure on already struggling families !! do they want to take more children into care or what ????????? bell enda and co get worse by the day
@Mick, yes they do want to take more Children into care, push the Families over the edge.. This is all part of the NWO.. Many can’t cope anymore with the cost of food & bills going through the roof, along with housing-water charging.. I’m afraid it’s part of their agenda to put this into action.. Mothers not able to afford to feed their Kids.. Shortcuts to nowhere but hell..
If its cuts across the board that’s needed I am in favour of taking more off pensioners at that age of there lives do they have mortgages or young kids to feed, politicians need a reality check there salaries and expenses are out of line with the rest of Europe, I hope this budget finally convinces people in this country to get up and protest rather than just continue to moan about it, people power has always brought down corrupt and incompetent governments.
Direct from the FG manifesto
http://www.finegael2011.com/pdf/Fine%20Gael%20Manifesto%20low-res.pdf
Change must start at the top: The political system cannot ask others to change and make sacrifices if it is not prepared to do the same. Fine Gael will cut the size of the Oireachtas by one-third by abolishing the Seanad, if the public approve in constitutional referendum, and cutting the number of TDs by 20. In addition ministers’ salaries will be reduced, political expenses fully vouched for and severance payments for ministers axed. No political pensions will be paid to sitting TDs and no retired politician will get a political pension until the national retirement age. Politics must be about service to the public, not financial gain for politicians.
The FG manifesto didn’t last long did it? They must of left it at the door of the cabinet room.
Just one question, Jillian – did nice Mr.Kenny approve your statement before you gave it to the Journal?
Yesterday’s manifesto is todays embarrassment…:)
The ‘Children First’ referendum was a clue as to how the budget would go. Children will be amongst the first group to suffer more cutbacks if these reports are true.
Child benefit should be left alone for low income people. Surely the politicians can see that. If it was taxed at 20% as a benefit in kind for people paying taxes, it would be fairer. I have the old age pension and am effectively taxed on it, so why not children’s allowance.
Strange that the children’s charities are now whining about child benefit being cut as if they had no idea this was coming when they participated in the softening up process for cutting it over the last few months. Instead of taking a clear stance of opposing cuts from the outset rather than supporting them ‘if’ the government does imaginary other things, like introduce free health/childcare and more education supports – which the charities should have known full well was never going to happen!
They also gave the government a massive propaganda boost on children’s issues by wholeheartedly supporting the children’s rights referendum without making the obvious point that rights on paper are meaningless without the resources to back them up. Had they used the opportunity afforded by the referendum to raise wider children’s rights issues, like protecting child benefit, it would have made it much harder for the government to cut child benefit yet again.
The reason the children’s rights charities don’t do this is because they are stacked full of government appointees, headed by political elites and overwhelmingly dependent on government funding so they are in basic ideological agreement with austerity and don’t want to rock the boat. Former Labour Party advisor and member, Fergus Finlay heads Barnardo on a salary of well over €100k a year, former FF Development Minister Peter Power, who helped get us into this mess, was recently appointed head of UNICEF and Jillian van Turnhout is indebted to FG, who gave her a nice little sinecure in the Senate.
Cutting child benefit across the board is wrong, this payment is directed at the child and if anyone thinks it is enough to feed and educate a child for a month they should try it !!! It will push people out of employment if they tax it as it would not be worthwhile for many parents to work if it is taken from them. If a TFA was brought in per head of household, the basic child allowence could be cut, social welfair for children could go up aswell as parents on family income supplement. This way those on most would benifit from the TFA, and those on least would recive a proper payment that will not discourage employment. As for people who say, you had them, you pay for them !! Someone has to pay your pension, and hospital care in the future! The children of today will be the ones paying back for the mess the country is in now, it is not their fault and we should be doing everything we can to help them on the path ahead of them. It is in all our intrest.
cb has been cut by 26 euros over the last 3 budgets, and the early childcare benefit was removed as well, before child benefit is cut again, things like subsidsed childcare needs to bring brought in, most people are spending this money not on luxuries for their kids but on food, clothing, mortgages, and childcare. I read somewhere recently that childcare is more costly than your average mortgage.
I can however soon see them capping the number of kids you can claim cb for like what england is attempting to bring in
Child benefit is not for rearing kids it’s a nomad really parents have kids and they surely knew though cost money …your kids you should pay for then and yes I get it for my kids but I realise if I want to get my kids something or I am responsible for the cost
So u still take it even though u dont agree with it? Bit hypocritical no?
Y shouldn’t I it’s all I get after years of taxes
More hypocritical go expect the state to pay for the rearing of kids…
Some people talk some s**t on here,,why have kids if u couldn’t afford them , ever think that person might of had a good job and lost it what than or that the government put everything up in prices and makes it harder for people to stay in work . Wat if a child wasn’t planed there is no abortion in this country what than just give it away because yr told to , this country is getting worse and harder and its only struggling ppl who will suffer its all abouit control and the Irish r too thick too see it
@Angela Your argument is completely invalid. U dont agree that people should get it but because u paid ur taxes you think why shouldnt u get it? Have the majority of people who are in receipt of child benefit not paid their taxes then?
I don’t doubt they did but don’t expect it as a right I paid tax I paid to send my child to college I pay when they are sick I get nothing from the state other than this so ya I’ll take it if rather than loose it than pay more stupor taxes which a waivers from fairness had to come were
Please don’t not touch our child benefit. I know I need it as I have five children to provide for. I use my child benefit for their clothing etc for my children. Please don’t touch our child benefit!!!
Well not been awful here why did you have 5 kids if you can’t afford to have 5 kids. Forgive that statement if you could previously before the recession .
Five kids is a lot also in these times. While it is a personal choice probably not the best choice
You get 748 Euro a month in Child Benefit. That’s ridiculous! That’s half my Gross Salary! No wonder you don’t want anyone to touch it!
Do you have children Conor?
No one wants to take money from people but there has to be fair balance. That is what I was trying to say. But everybody is fighting their own corner.
The Government should lower down the price of Food and Lower down the price of fuel for our homes and then people would not have to depend on Child Benefit so much
Amazing people on here wanting to be shown what child benefit is spent on!! 99% of the time it goes on Bills that have been left over the month as they could not afford to pay them during the week and as for the 1% that spend it in themselves let social services do the job they are supposed to and help that family but as usual social services doesn’t have a clue on how to help families!
So much for voting YES in the childrens rights referendum ….
So glad I voted NO ,
This government is a joke .They need to get out.
Noonan on RTE last night soft soaping us all ,the HHC even mentioned
on the news too and the reasons why this man decided why he was not paying it.
Don’t be fooled the children’s allowance is only the start , so far.
https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/532262_452393654795986_2053438241_n.jpg
Suffer little children who were born after the boom and can’t vote,If Joan Burton cuts the child benifit how can she turn up at mass on sunday.
cut. TD perks and salaries leaves the children alone . end of.
waiting for the arrows
social protection???name change required,I don’t see that hag protecting anyone but herself and her cronies
@Angela ,my 3 sons work and have no children they are lashed out of it every week with all the taxes they pay …but im proud to say they dont begrudge helping others and would never comment that they pay there taxes so its not to help people in poorer circumstances than themselfs.i suppose its all in the rearing ,and looking at some of the disgraceful comments on here id say you where all dragged up ,have a little compassion ,no one knows whats in store for them !!
@Stephen Church ……….if ppl have worked and paid taxes they most certainly are ENTITLED to get help ,you seem to sit on some lofty perch telling ppl they cant have Your tax money ,i have news for you ,we all pay taxes ,the poor more so as they pay indirect taxes on the food ,clothes etc they buy for there family ,so you are not keeping anyone ,as i said talk to your buddies in the Dail who are the real raiders of the country ,dont make yourself look any more thick than you have already,i know your always on here looking for reactions ,its time to grow up or ship out if you dont like it …im sure we will be fine without you !!!!!!!
Why not phase in a system like the French where child benefit is more than here but only covers 2 children then it stops so if you have 3 children the benefit is the same as if you have 2. It would take years but would reduce large families and in most cases the smaller families have a better chance in life. The Catholics might revolt but the kids would be better educated and better off.
Mortgage and debt repayments having a boycott on those two would make them listen and no one needs to march the streets just a message from the people to the elite that enough is enough
A labour minister going after the children of ireland with reckless abandon,, if its not bad enough labour ministers destroying the parents of these children now its the childrens turn,, mr gilmore spineless gilmore I wonder how you sleep at night,,actually I wonder no more you can always go home to your wife with both of your combined 350k annual wages and you can both rest assured you or yours will never know the struggle and heartbreak of having nothing,, shame on you and all the TDs of the (fianna) labour party
@Stephen church yr bad news maybe you should join the illumanati for the beginning of the NWO .
have your say