Ms Gayle Smith:

On Deputy Pringle's point, child maintenance needs to be decoupled completely from any social welfare benefit in order that there is no confusion as to what a child is entitled to to lift him or her out of poverty. At the moment, when maintenance is not being paid and it has already been deducted from social welfare payments, many families are living below a social welfare income anyway. If we are really serious about reducing child poverty in this country, we need to put children, rather than the adults who take care of them, at the centre of this.