Sir, – Brendan Quinn (October 10th) is wrong to imply that stopping child benefit payments to parents for children resident elsewhere in the EU will make any tangible difference to Ireland’s fiscal situation. Such payments amounted to €15.4 million in 2010 (Irish Times, June 20th, 2011), and so comprise less than 1 per cent of the approximate €2 billion annual cost of this welfare payment.
The real problem with child benefit is that it is an unfortunate holdover from the Fianna Fáil era of vote-buying profligacy; we couldn’t afford such generous benefits then, and we can’t afford them now. For a three-child family, monthly child benefit in Ireland is €428 compared to the equivalent of €255 in the UK. Cut it, or means-test it – preferably both – but the current approach is not sustainable. – Yours, etc,