Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Does the Department acknowledge the fall from 41% to 34%? I have heard a figure of 60%, on which Mr. McKeon might comment. He seems to acknowledge that the removal of the concurrent payment has led to deactivation, not activation, but the Department is claiming that it has come back up a little. Is there an acknowledgement that it was a retrograde move that has to be remedied if it has driven people from community employment schemes? Does the Department see any correlation between this and the rather startling figures recently recorded in various reports for the increase in the levels of deprivation and child poverty? Lone parents have been driven out and impoverished as a result of changes that were supposed to improve their circumstances.