The report, which was ordered by the Social Protection Minister, looks at ways of reducing the cost of child benefit to the State.

This report, compiled by the Advisory Group on Tax and Social Welfare, has been widely leaked to the media.

Among the measures it's understood to include are a proposal to cut the base monthly rate of child benefit by €20 to €110.

However, this could be supplemented by top ups for low income families.

Other options the group looked at to cut spending on child benefit were means testing, which it does not favour - and taxing the payment, which the report does not rule out.

That would mean reducing the payment by 20% or 41%, in line with the tax rates.

Child benefit is paid to around half a million households in Ireland - regardless of their income and the Social Protection Minister Joan Burton has said she wants it to remain a universal payment.

This is something the expert group reportedly agrees with.

However, there is likely to be backlash from middle income families who would have the most to lose whether the government opts to tax the payment or if it choses to cut the basic child benefit rate - which has already been cut by €36 a month in the past 3 years.