To ask those of you in Ireland?, what to do with child benefits?

[movingtoireland]

Name change and posting here for traffic? We are moving to Ireland with dh's job. He is a higher tax rate payer in U.K. and in Ireland (over 100k) I will be working too eventually but I'll wait for the dc to get settled into school etc. We have 2 sets of twins (aged 9 and 6) which means we will get €1080 in child benefits. I would like to invest this for them? What child investments are available in Ireland?? Should I contact a financial advisor?

There's an hour difference in school finish times ( maybe that's the same in the UK?) So your younger DC's will finish an hour earlier than your older DC. Some schools have after-school , or does and it saves on 3 pick ups a day. A lot of childminders here are totally unregulated and unregistered, this is very different in the UK.

I would open a Credit Union account rather than a Post Office account. There are more benefits IMO.

@LadyCampanulaTottington thank you I'll look into the credit union

@Abitlost2 yes my youngest two will finish an hour earlier but it'll only be for while and I'm not working to start with. I'm looking for a job I can do remotely starting from mid next year probably (a lot of my current role is remote but I'm handing in my notice soon as I want to help the dc feel settled and sort out the house etc first. My field of work will have plenty of opportunities so I'm not that worried about that

I second the credit Union suggestion.

We also moved from SE England to Ireland last year.

Do apply for PPS numbers for the kids ASAP, so you can then apply for child benefit. And yourself.
Took ages for ours to be processed. People v.helpful and actually answer the phone, if you do need to call them to hurry things along.

@BathshebaAndGabriel, thank you! how lovely how are you finding it??

Really enjoying it. Kids have settled well at school. Lockdown was tricky as we didn’t know many folk.

I find it’s a slower pace of life. Or maybe we were just too busy in London.
We’re in Dublin.
People friendly and kind. And up for some gentle ribbing of an Englishwoman!
We’re only here for another year and I will miss it.

I do find food slightly more expensive.

Best of luck with the move!

@BathshebaAndGabriel that's great. We plan on 3-5 years and then we'll reassess.

@PleasantBirthday-I wish that was the case, but ever since "Phonie Joanie" Burton took the Lone Parent Allowance off parents when the children turn 7 and then they took the Child Benefit off those off us whose kids over the age of 18 were still in full-time education, when it used to payable in that case until they were 22, I'm sad to say, I don't think it is anymore.
Those few years after the CB stopped and yet the young fella was still at school, then college, were a real struggle! It can only be worse for lone parents and those with more than one child. This isn't as child-friendly a nation as it once was and that's a shame!
I think it would be much fairer to stop it for people with large incomes and re-instate the Lone Parent Allowance AND Child Benefits for families on low incomes to what they were before the cuts! Ah well, life ain't fair!

@2Gen there is still a line parents payment in Ireland though??

[quote bestdhever]@2Gen there is still a line parents payment in Ireland though?? [/quote]
Will answer for her cos I am online but yes there is a lone parents payment here but you can only claim for a child under 7 because apparently, kids over 7 cost nothing. Who knew!

Wow in Ireland do higher rate tax payers get child benefit? We don’t get it in UK

Everyone gets it & it's much higher than here

@snapsieplopp yes everyone
It's 140 per month per child
210 per month for per child for twins
280 per month for per child for other multiples

@snapsieplopp sorry I meant to tag @MissyB1

@Longsight2019

Don’t get me started on the dreadfully unfair system in England.

They’ll let couple A earn £50k each and give them full child benefit

But they’ll penalise couple B if one earns £60k and the other is a stay at home parent.

And of that £60k, it could be a salary and
Bonus of £50k with a £10k BIK from a company car.

Utterly effing ridiculous. Designed by those that are on far higher wages.

In a nutshell you lose 10% of child benefit for every £1k earned between £50 and £60k.

Or in a slightly different nutshell, if you earn £961.54 a week, you lose £2.11, leaving you with the pittance of £959.43 a week.

Credit Union over post office, I would say. Get set up for your PPS asap, and get an appointment for your public services card too. See if your eligible for a medical card and apply for a drug payment scheme card too (if you pay over 100€ for prescriptions in one pharmacy in a one month period, you get a refund for a certain amount) Kids under 5 get free GP visits. Always helpful to look into health insurance too,I find VHI very good & cover most if not all my medical expenses (physio for DD, chiro/opticians/therapy for me). Schools are much better here, you will see a difference. Food is more expensive, but the quality is also much better imo.

DH is English, I'm Irish. We relocated a few years ago from London to Ireland. Have never looked back.

Just to answer your original question Eoin McGee is on Instagram and often answers these types of questions. (He's on tv over here so no vested interest, I spend my children's allowance keep meaning to save it!)