Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 11:

In page 12, between lines 8 and 9, to insert the following:“(3) Section 232 of the Principal Act is amended by inserting the following subsection after subsection (3):

“(4) The Minister shall provide a copy of any regulation or variation to a regulation that she proposes to make under this section to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection and the Committee shall, having considered the proposal or proposals, report back to the Minister before any such regulation or variation to a regulation may commence.”.”.

In the main this section is welcome and I am not trying to be awkward but because this is a change in the definition of family for the purposes of the family income supplement, in order for a person whose child is not normally a member of the household to be entitled to family income supplement, the person must be providing for the child.

This legislation will mean that in circumstances they must also be wholly or substantially maintaining the spouse or civil partner. The Minister will define by regulation the meaning of "normally residing in the household". The problem with a regulation is that the House does not have sight of the regulation. My amendment is an attempt to ensure that whatever regulation will provide that definition will be brought before this committee - as should be the case with other regulations which should come before committees of the Houses - so that we can consider regulations and make proposals for changes or suggestions to the Minister before the regulation is signed off.

FLAC is the only organisation that has prepared a commentary on this Bill and it raises concerns about this section. I suggest the Minister studies those proposals to deal with areas of concern to FLAC, albeit that the organisation said it did not have sufficient time to study the Bill in detail. FLAC suggests that section 8(4) be removed and revised to ensure all families in need of an adequate income to support their children be treated equally with regard to eligibility for family income supplement, regardless of the relationship status of the parents. This is a much broader proposal than what was intended by the Minister but it is worth considering. My proposal may be able to capture some of those points. The Minister will bring the regulation and the definition to the committee for discussion among ourselves and with groups such as FLAC before such a regulation is passed.