I'm told that the max the district court can impose is 150 per child per week, and that generally speaking they would award 75-100 per child per week
The maximum that can be awarded per child per week is €150 in the District Court but there is no general award. If anyone quotes you an average ask them where they got their facts from. The minimum recommended in the District Court is €75 per child per week, however it's up to the discretion of the judge and lower amounts can be awarded and are on a daily basis.
The assessment of maintenance is based on a calculation of each parents means & what the child's needs are. Quoting amounts like €75 - €100 may get the OP's hopes and expectations up when they may not be awarded in court.
To the OP:
The father is earning €700 per week (€2,800 per month), is that gross or net? For the purposes of my calculation I'll assume it's net. You don't mention whether he has another adult living with him who is earning and able to take half of the costs of the mortgage and other household bills. So say for example he has an average mortgage of about €250K over 25years at a rate of about 4% - that' s approx €1,200 per month on the mortgage alone. I'm assuming he has a car with fuel costs to/from work of about €50 per week. All other assumptions are below in my monthly calculations & they are very conservative:
Income: €2,800
Mortgage: €1,200
Fuel Costs: €200
Food/Grocery Costs: €400
Electricity: €60
Heating: €80
Home Insurance: €35
Life Assurance: €50
Telephone/Mobile Phone: €60
Car Maintenance/Insurance/Tax: €150
TV Licence: €12
Doctor's Fees/Contingency Spending/House Maintenance: €100
Total Outgoings: €2,347 - Say €2,350
That leaves only €450 to maintain his 4 children - and he has to maintain them all equally. So it's approximately €112.5 per month, per child which equates to a maintenance of €25 per week per child - approx.