child benefit for 3rd and subsequent children

[joeclogs]

Currently the rate of child benefit is €166 for the first and second child and €203 per subsequent child. This is illogical. Why is a third child deemed more expensive than a second child? Surely parents will already have purchased items like prams, clothes, car seats, cots by the time a second or third child arrives. Child benefit should be greatest for the first child and less for each subsequent child.

Greens should support such an approach as it will discourage large families thereby supposedly saving the planet.
Right wingers should support such an approach as it will adversely impact on travellers who tend to have very large welfare dependent families.
Fianna Failers and Fine Gaelers should support such an approach as it will favour their core constituency of the middle class.

[Tony_1975]

I agree 100%. It'll take a politician with some balls to change it though. I suspect that poorer people tend to have bigger families (anyone got any stats), so we'd have to listen to all this "most vunerable" tripe again.

[Drico]

Well I completely disagree.

The more children you have clearly the more expensive it is to care for them.

We need more children. We can barely support the number of pensioners as it is. Cutting incentives for 3rd children and so on is illogical is the current demographic climate of the western world, especially western europe.

[Tony_1975]

Well I completely disagree.

The more children you have clearly the more expensive it is to care for them.

We need more children. We can barely support the number of pensioners as it is. Cutting incentives for 3rd children and so on is illogical is the current demographic climate of the western world, especially western europe.

Why is a third child 'clearly' more expensive than the second one?

[clairec]

When you have 3 children it can get really expensive.

This is the stage where you have to look at a family car rather than a normal one, where one parent often has to think about giving up work because it is no longer financially viable and you might need to look at a bigger flat/house because the 2 bed you bought/rented when there was just 2 of you can't hold 5.

[Wakeupcall]

Well I completely disagree.

The more children you have clearly the more expensive it is to care for them.

We need more children. We can barely support the number of pensioners as it is. Cutting incentives for 3rd children and so on is illogical is the current demographic climate of the western world, especially western europe.

The world is fast becoming overpopulated... Resources / food etc... The Bilderbergers are meeting about "population" reduction quite often recently. Ironic Swines.

Either way - we have a world population increasing to unsustainable levels.

We dont need more of poorer people reproducing more. If we are going to tackle the aging population we should incentify the people who will bring their children up in a new knowledge economy. We dont want the lowest classes with the 10 children or more per couple scenarios. This will just create a society of bingers and scroungers. IMHO

[Twin Towers]

It's not the West that is overburdening the planet with population. Ethiopia alone is heading for a population of 177 million by mid century and where shall they all go?.

[Wakeupcall]

It's not the West that is overburdening the planet with population. Ethiopia alone is heading for a population of 177 million by mid century and where shall they all go?.

Aside from that, we are giving incentive to poorer families to have more children. We need more than cans of Stella and a few bets in the bookies to bring up our children for a knowledge economy.

[Tony_1975]

When you have 3 children it can get really expensive.

This is the stage where you have to look at a family car rather than a normal one, where one parent often has to think about giving up work because it is no longer financially viable and you might need to look at a bigger flat/house because the 2 bed you bought/rented when there was just 2 of you can't hold 5.

The set up costs for the first child are enormous. (I did it last year, so I know).
How many people with 2 kids live in a 2 bed flat? I would suggest that a 3 bed abode of some sort is still the norm.

On the subject of child benefit - Why is the money specifically for the mother? (it actually says this on the application form). Surely that's a very backward way of doing things.

[Twin Towers]

Growing up in a poor family does not necessarily condemn one to poverty in a society that guarantees an education. I warrant most posters here did not have the benefit of silver spoons.