Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 26 November 2014

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection

Social Welfare Bill 2014: Committee Stage

1:05 pm

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

I welcomed this provision on Second Stage when the announcement was made. I had raised the issue with the Minister only a few days prior to that. At that stage the announcement had not been made. It is clearly welcome. It was a pity the Minister did not take the opportunity to reverse the original cut made to the income disregard from €146.50 down to €90 as that was a substantial cut which affected lone parents to the tune of about €28 per week. As Deputy O'Dea said, the people who are affected are lone parents who go back to work. In the main many of them, initially, are those who are working in low paid part-time work, but not exclusively so. They are the people who are affected by the changes. Will the Minister give an indication if it is the intention to go beyond this and to consider reversing the original cut, which was substantial and ensured that many of those in the lone parents grouping, the one parent families, were at risk of poverty? I quoted the figures at the time. This group has the highest consistent poverty rate of more than 17% and a rate of deprivation of almost 50%. Any cut to their income or any changes to the provisions within the social welfare code which affect them can have a detrimental affect. While this one is not a cut, it does not undo a previous cut. We are talking about young people because they are people who will be affected, the children of lone parents.

Amendment No. 3 seeks to delete the title "The Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005" and substitute "The Principal Act". I asked previously, and the Minister promised to look into it, about the provision of the consolidated Act for Deputies and others in order that we can work off it rather than bounce back and forth between Acts.

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