Parents of newborn children are facing an eight-week delay in receiving their first Child Benefit payment, a spokeswoman for the Department of Social and Family Affairs has confirmed.

The Department's office in Letterkenny, Co Donegal, had a backlog of applications at the moment, she said.

New claims for Child Benefit are normally processed within two to three weeks, with the first payment received on the first Tuesday of the month after the baby is born.

The spokeswoman apologised to new parents who are currently experiencing a delay and said the Letterkenny office was "doing its best to get the backlog cleared". As of last Friday, she said the office was processing claims received in the week of October 1st.

Arrears will be paid to people once the claims are processed, but it is not clear when this will be.

Extra strain is placed on staff at this time of year, the spokeswoman said, because, in September, parents whose children are over the age of 16 must re-apply for Child Benefit with application forms signed by school officials to verify that the child is still in full-time education. The signed claims are usually sent in around October and November, placing an additional workload on staff dealing with new claims, according to the Department's spokeswoman.

Child Benefit is paid every month, usually to the child's mother, for each qualified child living at home. A qualified child is a child under the age of 16 or a child aged 16 to 18 who is in full-time education, attending a FÁS Youthreach course or is physically or mentally disabled and dependent on the parent.

The benefit must be claimed within six months of the birth of the baby, the date on which the family came to reside in Ireland, or the date on which the child became a member of the family, in order to receive payment for each of the months.

If it is not claimed in time, the Child Benefit will be paid only from the month after the claim is received.