Mr. R?n?n Hession:

On paternity leave, as far as I know we do not have data on where it is being topped up. Within the system we know where the payment is being mandated to the employer. That will not necessarily cover all circumstances and in some cases it is done within the organisation. The numbers on paternity leave have improved in recent years, which has been good to see, and we also have parent's leave and benefit, so along with the two weeks of paternity leave there is an additional seven weeks of leave that can be taken.

On linking it to pay, there is a programme for Government commitment to look at pay related payments in the jobseeker's space. In other words, jobseeker's benefit would be pay related. It is already pay related to some extent but not in a meaningful way. The first area in which we would look at that would be in jobseeker's benefit and there are programme for Government commitments around looking at enhanced payments in other areas for parents as a follow-on from that.

On child maintenance, the way it works is that if you are receiving a maintenance payment and it is not being paid in full or it stops, under our current system you are required to make efforts to seek maintenance. If the maintenance is not received, we can restore payments to the full amount. That was reviewed by the child maintenance review group, which has completed its work and it reported to the Minister in April. There are three social welfare issues in that. First is whether maintenance should be considered in the means test at all. Second is whether that approach of efforts to seek maintenance through the courts should continue or not. Third is a system called liable relatives, which is a way for the Department to recoup its costs through the other parent; that is not a payment to the lone parent as such. That report is with the Minister and she has indicated that she is looking to publish it by the end of the year.