State benefits to non-resident children soar by 2,000%

FOREIGN-based families of non-nationals living here will get a massive €15m in child benefit payments from the State this year.

The cost of child benefit payments for non-resident children to Irish taxpayers has increased by more than 2,000 per cent in the past four years.

The payments have been bolstered by the introduction of the new Early Child Supplement, which was introduced in 2006 and pays €1,100 for each child under the age of six to assist with childcare costs.

Under EU law, Ireland's Child Benefit payment, formerly known as Children's Allowance, is paid to 3,800 families in respect of 6,840 children living outside the country.

As a growing number of European nationals come to Ireland, the numbers of non-national workers claiming the benefits in Ireland has increased more than twelve-fold in the past four years.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/state-benefits-to-nonresident-children-soar-by-2000pc-1393775.html