Dr. Geoffrey Shannon:

The Senator's approach is to be commended. I think an incremental approach is the correct one. There are challenges, one of which is that maintenance is a private law obligation. That is unique to Ireland. We have a unique maintenance system. What we are talking about this afternoon is when parents are not in a position to support their children when they interact with the social welfare system, so we are looking at a point in time. There are a number of models. What the Senator suggests is, I think, the correct approach. Incremental reform, I have always argued, is the best type of reform because reform has to be culturally appropriate. We should not lose sight of that. There are probably four models that could be followed. Maintenance is guaranteed by the state in, for example, Australia, Sweden, Estonia, Italy, Germany and Hungary. It is guaranteed by specific bodies indirectly governed by the state in France, Slovakia and Belgium. It is governed by local authorities in the Czech Republic, Denmark and Finland. It is guaranteed by special funds in Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Portugal. It is guaranteed by special agencies in the UK and the Netherlands. Whatever approach we take, we should not lose sight of the fact that children within the Irish system are generally invisible. We are just ten years short of having passed the children's rights referendum. It is a real tragedy that we treat children as what I would call bystanders, whereas they are deeply affected by the parents' inability to pay maintenance. We need, therefore, to redouble our efforts to ensure there is a minimum. Whatever the minimum payment is, it should be left as a minimum payment, and any deduction because of a maintenance payment that might be defaulted on should not occur if we are really serious about avoiding child poverty.