TAOISEACH MICHEÁL MARTIN has said that although a specific second tier of child benefit looks unlikely to make it into next month’s budget, there will be “measures that are more or less equivalent” to the payment for low-income families.

The clarification comes after Minister for Social Protection Dara Calleary yesterday said that the payment would not be included in Budget 2026, seemingly contradicting the Taoiseach’s suggestion earlier in the week that a payment of the sort would feature.

The second tier of child benefit payment is included in the programme for government. It would offer an additional payment to low-income families, on top of the universal child benefit payment.

A recent report from the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) suggested a payment of this type would cost around €772m but “could lift more than 50,000 children out of poverty”.

Speaking at the Fianna Fáil think-in in Co Cork today, Martin said that discussions he had with the Minister for Social Protection last week confirmed that support will be introduced in next month’s budget for low-income families.

“They’re saying they’re not ready for a new payment structure this term, but that they will have measures that are more or less equivalent to a second child benefit tier for those on the lowest incomes,” he said.

“There will be measures that will help low-income families. But it’s just a mechanism, it may not be in the form of a new, structured second tier payment,” he said.

He said the support may be channelled through the child support payment and other measures in this budget.

He said a second a specific payment “should be pursued” but highlighted the “administrative complexity”.

“If you were to bring it in baldly, thousands of people could lose out inadvertently. So you don’t want to rush something which would have negative consequences,” he added.

Targeted measures

The Taoiseach also reaffirmed that there will not be a cost of living package, instead, any cost of living measures introduced will be targeted.

“We have to target resources to those for whom the cost of living impact will be the most severe,” he said.

Latest figures from the EU Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices suggest that inflation has caused food prices to rise by 5% in the past year, but Martin ruled out the possibility of specific plans to target grocery costs.

He said the government is looking at including a Deis Plus programme for schools, as well as other measures to decrease cost of living pressures generally.

With reporting from Christina Finn.