An analysis of figures from the Irish Household Budget Survey suggests children benefit proportionately more from child benefit than they do from other sources of family income, an economist has said.
Dr David Madden of University College Dublin compared expenditure from child benefit on children's clothing to expenditure on children's clothing from other sources of family income.
He told a meeting of the Foundation for Fiscal Studies last night that his analysis of the figures in the survey suggested families spent a higher share of child benefit on children's clothing than they did of their other sources of income.
Mr Madden said it appeared from his research that the specific labelling of the State transfer as being for children influenced how the money was spent.
However, the figures had to be treated with caution because it was possible that a high proportion of expenditure on other items, such as children's food, was made from income other than child benefit.
The UCD economist said it appeared from his study that children from well-off families did relatively better out of child benefit. However, that "does not imply that children in poor families do not gain from child benefit, nor that it does not alleviate child poverty in these families".
He said his research "provides some support for the idea that the labelling of specific benefits may be of use in terms of helping them reach their intended target". He said this could have implications for spending in other areas, such as health and education.
The meeting, which was held at Newman House on St Stephen's Green in Dublin, was chaired by UCD economist Prof Brendan Walsh. Mr Dunne based his figures on the 1,600 families in the 1994 Household Budget who bought clothing for children of 14 years of age or younger.
