NWCI welcomes Minister Burton’s commitment to protect child benefit from cuts

Published: Thursday, July 25, 2013

National Women’s Council of Ireland welcomes Minister Burton’s commitment not to cut child benefit in the forthcoming budget.

Responding to media reports, Orla O’Connor, Director of NWCI said,

“‘We welcome Minister Burton’s commitment to protect child benefit from further cuts. The Minister is correct in saying that many families are highly dependent on child benefit to pay for household bills. It is a crucial source of income for most and only a small contribution to the high costs of raising children in Ireland.”

She continued,

“We have to remember that there have been vicious cuts to child benefit over the past number of years. Hundreds of millions of euro have already been saved on the child benefit bill since the cuts. NWCI estimates that families with four children have already seen a cumulative loss of €2,616 per annum. We now need to focus on investment in supports for children, particularly childcare, in Budget 2014.”

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For more information, please contact Silke Paasche, Communications Officer, NWCI, Tel. 085 858 9104