20,000 families benefit from newborn baby grant – O’Shea

Almost 20,000 families have benefitted from the newborn grant since it was introduced by in the last Budget, according to a Fine Gael TD.

The newborn baby grant of €280 was announced as part of Budget 2025 and is paid to families of babies born or adopted after 1st December 2024 in addition to their regular first month’s Child Benefit payment of €140.

Chairperson of the Social Protection Oireachtas Committee, Deputy John Paul O’Shea, has obtained figures showing the new grant has been paid in respect of 19,750 babies to date.

Dublin had the highest number of newborn babies with 5327 grants paid up to June while Leitrim had the lowest with 115 newborn baby grants paid to families in the County.

Speaking on the matter, Deputy O’Shea said:

“The arrival of a new baby is a joyful time for families but it’s also an expensive time.

“The Newborn Baby Grant was introduced in last year’s Budget to help families with the costs of a new arrival.

“The grant demonstrates our continued commitment to putting money back in peoples’ pockets’ and ensuring that all children have positive experiences and get off to a great start in life.

“I am pleased that in my home county of Cork, the parents of 2,371 babies have availed of the benefit which helps ensure their material needs are met.

“Looking after a new baby is a busy, costly and stressful time for families. The good news is the newborn baby grant is paid automatically with your child benefit payment, there is no additional application for the grant. Therefore, parents of newborns do not need to do anything extra to receive the grant.

“This grant has been introduced to support young families but we need to do more. I want to see key commitments in the Programme for Government such as the introduction of Pay Related Parents Benefit progressed so that we can provide further support to young families,” Deputy O’Shea said.

It is estimated that in 2025, the Newborn Baby grant will be paid in respect of some 54,000 children, at a cost of approximately €15 million.

Notes to editors:

The table below outlines a breakdown by county of the number of grants paid or payable up to 3 June 2025.