Toddlers get 'back to school' payments [IrishTimes]
- Published: 21 October 2011
THE AWARDING of more than €7 million in back-to-school allowances last year to the parents of 40,000 children aged three or under and who do not go to school has been described as “completely unnecessary”.
The Government yesterday said it had underestimated the amount of money required to fund the back-to-school clothing scheme this year and blamed a substantial increase in the number of parents applying for the allowance.
The scheme offers a one-off payment to eligible families to assist with the extra costs when their children start school each autumn and, in a written response to a Dáil question from Labour’s Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton said the €82 million earmarked to fund it this year would not be sufficient.
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