€15 million in Back to School allowance for underage children – McLoughlin [sligotoday.ie]
- Published: 27 October 2011
Fine Gael TD for Sligo/North Leitrim, Tony McLoughlin, has highlighted the provision of over €15 million to families of children who are not yet of schoolgoing age in the Back to School allowance scheme. This information was made available to Deputy McLoughlin in response to a parliamentary question by the Deputy.
“I find it surprising that €15 million of State funding is being spent on a Back to School allowance for children between two and four years of age. Over 63,000 children in this age group are being allocated money under the scheme despite the fact that most children do not start school until they reach four or five.
“The Supplementary Welfare Allowance (SWA) clothing and footwear scheme which replaced a previous Public Assistance Footwear scheme had been targeted at both school and pre-school children from the age of two years up. When the BSCFA scheme was introduced, the provision to pay the allowance to children from the age of two years up was retained.
Full Story: www.sligotoday.ie
