Ms Karen Kiernan:

We really appreciate the committee looking at this important issue for the families with whom we work. It is a constant source of conflict and difficulty for separated families.

We know much research has been done into one-parent families and the fact that they are multiply disadvantaged. Not much research has been done on child maintenance, access or custody, however. Some work has been done by us in One Family and by SPARK. Looking at what we have done and at international research from other countries, we can see that a whole suite of common problems exist where the State does not become involved in the management of maintenance. At a national level, we see child poverty rates going up. We also see repeated and inappropriate use of courts, which all costs the State money and difficulty.

At a personal level, we very much see in our services the conflict this causes within families who are trying to share parenting or separate. Of course, there is the hardship for the children who are not being appropriately supported by both of their parents. We are also aware that because of the conflict, there can be links between the payment of maintenance and access or contact for children. Although these issues should be considered separately, they are sometimes looked at together. We are aware that there are many difficulties in the administration of maintenance by the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection, for example, where it can be multiply assessed as means. Sometimes, even if it is not paid, it is assessed as means. We note that during the lockdown, the Department changed its policy and started to believe parents who said they had sought maintenance. We would like to see that continued; it was very welcome.

I will mention our recommendations. We would like the Department of Justice to commission independent research looking internationally. We have done some work on this. It is extremely difficult to know, not just from looking at the published papers but also from speaking directly to parents and organisations, how the different systems impact them. We have not yet found a completely perfect system. That needs to then be looked at in an Irish context to see what can happen. We would like the recommendations to train staff in the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Courts Service, legal professionals and the Judiciary. That recommendation was made in the Oireachtas committee report on lone parents as well as in the domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, DSGBV, strategy. We would like child poverty to be recognised, with maintenance as part of that, in the next iteration of the children and young people's framework, that is, Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures: The National Policy Framework for Children and Young People 2014-2020. Child maintenance should be treated as a non-taxed, non-means-tested payment as with child benefit. Really, it needs to come out of the family law courts. It should not be linked to other issues. An independent agency should do two things. It should assess what should be paid and ensure it is paid through enforcement. I thank the committee.