Marie Moloney (Labour) | Oireachtas source

There is a cohort who will lose money. When they are no longer in receipt of the one-parent family payment, they will not be able to avail of the disregard and their income will drop. Their family income supplement payment will increase by 60% of the amount they will lose. Will the officials confirm that those who are working, not those who find employment, and in receipt of the one-parent family payment will receive the back to work family dividend?

I know the answer to the next question, but I want the officials to give it. Will the back to work family dividend be disregarded for family income supplement purposes? If the people concerned are earning over €100 per week, they will probably not have received the free fuel allowance. I am worried that some of them might not have received it. I know that the officials are here to discuss the family income supplement scheme, but it all ties in with getting people back to work.

The family income supplement payment is set for a period of 12 months, but sometimes there are exceptional circumstances. Is there any appeals mechanism to argue on poverty grounds to have the payment reviewed within the 12 month period? I know that it can be done where one has a new baby or people are transferring to the transitional jobseeker’s allowance. Where a couple has applied for and is receiving family income supplement and where the payment one partner was drawing down has run out, the household is at a loss and the position cannot be reviewed for perhaps another seven months. Is there any mechanism by which people can make an appeal on exceptional grounds to have it reviewed in the intervening period?