On April 7th 2009, Finance Minister Brian Lenihan announced that in January 2010, child benefit may or may not be taxed or means tested due to the current economic climate. The parents of Ireland have already been hit hard by taxes and the removal of essential benefits and now a universal payment, traditionally paid to the mother of the child, is now under threat. We, the parents of Ireland, are disgusted at these plans. We are calling on the Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan and the Minister for Social and Family Affairs Mary Hanafin to scrap this ridiculous idea. Not only will they be hitting the middle income families who are already losing â