A family with a joint income of €100,000 should not be considered rich against the backdrop of high mortgage and childcare costs, Leo Varadkar has admitted.
The Taoiseach has strongly rejected suggestions from Regina Doherty that the children’s allowance could be means-tested.
In a striking intervention, his spokesman contacted the Irish Independent to categorically kill the idea first mentioned by Social Protection Minister last Friday.
He also noted that the “average salary” for somebody working full-time in Ireland is now €44,000.
“So a middle-income couple where both are working could easily have a combined salary of €100,000. This doesn’t make them rich. They have high costs like rent, mortgage, childcare and all the cost associated with raising a family,” Mr Varadkar’s office said.
At a conference in Dublin last week, Ms Doherty suggested the Government needed to “weigh” the need “to invest heavily in childcare” against having a “universal payment system”.
She told the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA) she would look at households earning more than €100,000 and in receipt of child benefit.
Ms Doherty also committed to reviewing…
