Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 6:

In page 7, between lines 9 and 10, to insert the following:

"Entitlement to one-parent family payment

5.(1) Section 172(1) of the Principal Act is amended—

(a) in the definition of "qualified parent" (amended by section 20 of the Act of 2010)—

(i) in paragraph (e), by the substitution of "6 months," for "6 months, or", and

(ii) in paragraph (h), by the substitution of "civil partnership," for "civil partnership.",

and

(b) in the definition of "relevant age" (amended by section 14 of the Act of 2012), by

the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (a):

"(a) 16 years where—

(i) the person in respect of whom the claim for one-parent family payment is being made is qualified for a carer's allowance under Chapter 8 of Part 3, including a payment under section 186A, or

(ii) a payment under Chapter 8A of Part 3 is being made in respect of a child, and".

(2) Section 178C (amended by section 14 of the Act of 2012) of the Principal Act is amended by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (3):

"(3) For the purposes of this section nothing in subsection (2) shall affect the entitlement of a person to whom this section applies to continue to be entitled to one-parent family payment until the youngest child attains 16 years where—

(a) the person is qualified for a carer's allowance under Chapter 8 of Part 3, including a payment under section 186A, or

(b) the youngest child is a child in respect of whom a payment under Chapter 8A of Part 3 is being made.".

(3) In this section "Act of 2012" means the Social Welfare Act 2012.".

The purpose of this amendment is to extend the current support for recipients of one parent family payments who are caring for a disabled child to a lone parent who is caring for someone on a full-time basis. This amendment will extend the support to the two categories of lone parent. It will allow existing recipients of one parent family payments who are in receipt of half-rate carer's allowance to retain the one parent family payment until the youngest child is 16 or until they lose the entitlement to the carer's allowance or one parent family payment for other reasons. This will mean that lone parents providing full-time care to an adult will be treated in the same manner as lone parents caring for a child in respect of those for whom domiciliary care allowance is being paid. It will also allow people who become lone parents for the first time and whose youngest child is between seven and 15 years of age to qualify for one parent family payment where they are also eligible for carer's allowance. The final phase of the age-related reform of the one parent family payment scheme will take shape on 2 July 2015 when the maximum age limit for the youngest child for one parent family payment qualification purposes will be reduced to seven years for all recipients.