Marie Moloney (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I had a good discussion with the Tánaiste in Wexford this week on the working family dividend, if that is going to be its official name. I raised some important matters with the Tánaiste on which she will revert to me but it is important that the joint committee speaks on it and is informed about it as well. The first point was that this dividend should not interfere with the family income supplement, that is, it would be disregarded in line with the family income supplement. Second, it should not interfere with the medical card for those who were returning to work. While I acknowledge the Tánaiste probably cannot give answers today, I ask her to take it on board when she is contemplating this initiative. Another important point concerns separated parents who have joint custody. What will happen in that case, as many people are separated and have joint custody? Who will get this dividend for people returning to work? Will it be the mother or the father? It it will be important for the Tánaiste to take on board this point when considering the dividend.

In her briefing to the joint committee, the Tánaiste noted there is an additional incentive for families who are long-term unemployed to move from a social welfare payment into employment, including self-employment. While we discussed this during the week, she was unable to advise on the position in respect of self-employment and I would appreciate it, were it possible to give an update in this regard.

Will the Minister advise the committee what she means by long-term unemployed? Is she saying somebody on jobseeker's benefit cannot avail of this? Is that person considered short-term unemployed? What does the Department consider to be long-term unemployed? Are we talking about one year, two years or about people on jobseeker's allowance?

The other issue relates to child care. We will not get people back to work until we have proper, affordable and secure child care in place. The Department of Social Protection and the Department of Children and Youth Affairs should work in tandem with the Department of Education and Skills because much of the child care should be provided in schools - after school care - because if one comes from a rural area, like I do, and one's town is ten to 15 miles away from the school one's child attends, one cannot get from one's job to the school to pick up one's child and take him or her to the child care centre. If it was provided in the school, it would be very convenient for everybody. Many schools have put preschool facilities in place which could be used for after-school child care. Will the Minister work with the Department of education and Skills on that?