Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

On section 4, I wish to mention an issue that relates to the entitlement to jobseeker's allowance and that of the one-parent family payment. Unusually, the Department has built-in flexibility which ensures a person can work five days yet still receive a part payment or payment of jobseeker's allowance. However, anomalies exist, particularly in regard to the one-parent family payment. Let me explain by giving an example. A constituent of mine receives the one-parent family payment. When she got a job as a special needs assistant she received a payment of €1,300 but €600 was deducted from her one-payment family payment and the Revenue Commissioners took another €600. The net benefit she received for working as a special needs assistant was €100 into her hand. She eventually got her €600 back from Revenue. The difficulty is that most people cannot survive such a situation. I refer to trying to survive on fresh air until their money is refunded.

Anomalies have been built into the system that have not been resolved and I shall give another example. A standard deduction is made per day but if someone is offered work where their remuneration is less than the standard deduction they cannot avail of the offer. In particular, people in receipt of the one-parent family payment only have the flexibility to go out to work during the middle of the day when their child is at school. If a person gets the opportunity of an hour's work, which will hopefully extend into something else, he or she cannot take the hour because he or she will be worse off financially.

Specific barriers have been built into the system for casual work. It is not just in regard to the one-parent family payment because the same problem arises with jobseeker's allowance. I gave the example in the House during the Second Stage debate of an employer who wanted to employ someone for five days a week. He or she could not do so on a part-time basis even though she was eminently qualified and hoped it would progress into a full-time job. I hope it will do so in the next couple of months. As the job was over five days the person would not take it but the employer has since been able to alter the hours but flexible employment is not always available. It is an issue that needs to be looked at.

We will debate transition payments later but there are challenges in terms of transition payment. I will wait until we reach the relevant section to raise this issue. Can the Minister of State look at these anomalies? Can he ensure we do not create false barriers when it comes to access to employment?