The Department of Social Affairs says that, based on internal Government estimates, the entitlement of EU migrant workers to child benefits and the new childcare supplements will see welfare costs rise by €90 million.
Under the EU law, employees from any member state can claim child benefit in the country they are working in on behalf of their non-resident children.
The number of applications has increased from 30-a-week last year to an average of 300-a-week.
Almost 18,000 applications for non-resident children are to be processed. 80% of these are Polish nationals.
