The National Women’s Council, the Children’s Rights Alliance, One Family, OPEN, and the Protest Against a Child Unfriendly Budget (PACUB) have all said that taking money from children should always be a last resort.

Treasa Dovander, spokeswoman for PACUB, called on the Minister for Social and Family Affairs Mary Hanafin "to have a heart this Christmas". If one child suffers because of such a cutback, it is one child too many, Ms Dovander said.

Frances Byrne, director of OPEN, said the impact of this cut on lone parent families was a matter of grave  concern.

Candy Murphy, policy and campaigns manager for One Family, said it would lessen the chances of  lone parents to move into employment, and would also have a negative effect on already agreed maintenance agreements made by separated couples.

Maria Corbett, policy director of Children’s Rights Alliance, said taxing or means-testing child benefit would demonstrate blind short-term thinking that was impractical, costly and would, ultimately, fail to make any savings. ( Source: Irish Examiner)