MINISTER FOR SOCIAL Protection Dara Calleary has said that a second tier of child benefit will not be introduced in next month’s budget, despite the Taoiseach earlier this week signalling that something to that effect would be included. 

On Thursday at a summit on child poverty, the Taoiseach was asked whether the government would adopt the ESRI’s recommendation of a second tier of child benefit.

In reply, he said, “I’m working on that. I had a discussion last evening with the Minister of Social Protection and these officials. We will do something on that, or equivalent to that.”

Today, Calleary said that despite talks and work ongoing on the issue, there would not be a second tier introduced on budget day next month. 

“That work won’t be done, but we are working on it with a view to bringing a proposal to government at some stage,” he said. “But I want to make sure that in bringing that proposal that nobody loses out.”

The second rate of child benefit would target low income households. The current child benefit payment is universal and made available to all families with children, regardless of their income. 

“In addition to the universal child benefit, we have the child support payment, which is paid in addition to child benefit to those on the lowest incomes,” Calleary said, adding that the government is investing €780m per annum in the child support payment.

“A second tier of child payment is something that we are looking at within the department, and my officials are doing a lot of work on it. The proposals around it, though, would involve a complete rejig of existing payments.”

He said he recognised that the second tier child payment is a commitment in the programme for government and said he is confident the proposal will be brought before government before Budget 2027.

Earlier in the week, a new report by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) found that a second tier of child benefit targeting low income households “could lift more than 50,000 children out of poverty”.

The estimated cost is around €772 million, but researchers say it’s a “price worth paying, not just for the immediate benefits but the opportunity it offers to end the cycle of intergenerational poverty”.

Tánaiste Simon Harris has said he is a “signed-up believer” to introducing a second tier of child benefit, while Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said he has always acknowledged that there are “merits in such an approach” of introducing a second tier for child benefit.