Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

While I understand it has been ruled out of order on revenue grounds, that is unfortunate.

The purpose of my submitting this amendment was to support lone parents and identify the conundrum they would find themselves in between education and training and the support element. A lone parent in training represents 100% of the workforce in that house and for that person to engage and get back to employment, there is a space in which they would need additional support. I submitted the amendment to ensure that lone parents would be mandated and that there would be a practice in place to support them to get back into employment or to further education. I was trying to get a balance between finishing training and getting back into the workforce. It is unfortunate it has been ruled out on Revenue grounds. I would have like to have seen it accepted. A good deal of the conversation that took place in the past 18 months on the affordable child care Bill was around the most vulnerable and those who need to get back into a particular pathway of self-development for themselves and in terms of the workforce. Lone parents and Single Parents Acting for the Rights of our Kids, SPARK, would have lobbied me on that and it is regrettable that the Department has not seen its way to including it. I would love to hear the Minister's explanation as to the reason it has been ruled out.