The Department of Social Protection has cut off payment of the Child Benefit to the equivalent of 8,500 children, the Irish Independent has revealed.

According to a report in the paper, the Department has suspended the payment to 3,070 families, while payment to another 1,480 families has been stopped altogether — affecting a total of 8,600 children.

The failure of parents to confirm they were still living at the listed address following a nationwide trawl of families was the reason for the removal of payment.

The move comes as Social Protection Minister Eamon O Cuiv searches for ways of clawing back desperately needed exchequer revenue through some form of cuts to Child Benefit.

According to the paper, Mr O Cuiv has already moved to cut the Child Benefit bill with a crackdown aimed at weeding out bogus claims by families who have left the country but are still receiving payments.

Child Benefit payments are worth €1,800 each per year for the first and second child, and €2,244 each for the third and subsequent children.

Child Benefit payments amounting to €2.26bn a year are currently made to 583,496 families on behalf of 1.1 million children.

The payments are worth €150 a month for the first and second child, and €187 for the third and subsequent children.

The payment was cut by 10 per cent in the last Budget. Last week’s announcement by the UK Government that they were set to axe child benefit to those earning over £44,000 started speculation that the Government here might carry out similar reforms.

A range of options, including taxing the benefit, an overall cut in the amount of the benefit or a means test to ensure that the benefit goes to those most in need, are being examined by the Government.