Ms Simonetta Ryan:

Many issues have been raised and I will try to cover whatever I can. I will be asking my colleagues to contribute because they have a certain amount of expertise also.

Deputy O'Dea asked about consultation with lone parent groups. It is acknowledged that our main role is to implement policy but I can talk a little about the policy separately. As part of our role of ensuring that the policy is implemented, that people get paid and that everything works as it should, there was a lot of work with the lone parent groups. We made sure that people at least understood what was happening. Letters were issued and people were engaged with. Considerable work was done on the ground. To some extent, this work continues, including in respect of talking about the kinds of letters we are issuing, etc. When I talk about consultation, that is really what I am talking about. The reform entailed a huge change for everybody. It was obviously a huge change for the recipients but it was also a huge change for us to make sure the measure was implemented and that people got paid. This has to be our first priority in operational terms.

A number of Senators and Deputies raised the question of consultation in a broader way and asked whether we are listening. As acknowledged by some of the speakers, the way in which some of the reform arrangements have been amended as we went along shows we do listen and read, and we are aware of what people are saying. Departmental officials regularly meet representatives of non-governmental organisations and other groups at various fora. We do keep in touch. The jobseeker's transition payment, which was a major change through the reforms, was a way of reflecting the fact that we did understand and hear that child care issues would arise for people.The objective was to allow somebody with a schoolchild between seven and 14 the flexibility to work part-time and have his or her child minded. It is not full-time education because it is really primary school one is talking about. Up to age seven, the arrangement allowed for more full-time care. The change to the scheme was major and very significant in terms of how we administer the jobseeker's payment.

A number of speakers have raised the Millar report. It was not actually commissioned by the Department. In fairness to everybody, we need to be clear about that. The Department's social inclusion division provides support for social policy research, and the Millar report was funded under that. We are very interested in determining the areas of activation that work best for lone parents. That was an area on which we were looking for more information. The Millar report, while we believed it might address that in more specific detail, focused more on people's experiences and international experience. There are some points in the Millar report with which we probably agree and some on which we have counter-views based on our own experience. People need to be aware that we did not actually commission the report. It is not a departmental report.

From a policy perspective, a thread that has been running through the whole approach to helping lone parents — this goes back for many decades and there is nothing new here — concerns the question of how one can prevent single parents, who are largely women, from becoming locked in poverty for many years, from not progressing and from not getting an education. It is a matter of deciding on the best policy? There is agreement on this, and it is actually reflected in the Millar report that the principle of activation is a good direction to follow. One can talk about how one might go about that.

With regard to the policy direction, some unintended consequences arise when one gets into the complexities of starting to change the social welfare system, which is so complicated. There is acceptance that groups of lone parents, although not all and by no means the majority, have lost out as a result of the reforms. Some of the changes that have been made have been an attempt to address that. No doubt, there will be others. Mr. Niall Egan will talk a little about this issue and what happened to the various groups of lone parents.

I will ask my colleague, Ms Ward, to talk about what we are doing on the ground in terms of the activation of lone parents and our experience of working with people. A lot of research has shown that the education of the mother is very important in determining the level of poverty experienced by children. It is not just a matter of work per sebecause the experience of working helps to lift people's self-esteem and enhance their development. These are all important factors.

I might return to the issue of maintenance later because it is complicated. If I get into that, it might deflect people from the points they wish to raise. The Chairman asked some questions on how we are following on from the reforms, tracking and obtaining information. It is early days but we do have systems in place, particularly in respect of the jobseeker's transition payment. Mr. Niall Egan will probably want to talk a little more about this. The data on the payment are very recent because the scheme has only just begun. We wanted to wait until the school year started and all the rest of it. It is very early days so we do not have a large amount of information. Once somebody is on the jobseeker's transition payment, however, we put him or her into our system to measure his or her distance from the labour force.