Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

There are two or three points. One relates to those who are in a relationship. We have had stories of people being quite aggressively pursued on whether they are cohabiting and so on but even if somebody is cohabiting or in a relationship, that person is still accepted as the parent of that child. Just because a person may have started a relationship with somebody, it does not mean he or she is stepping in in loco parentisand can be considered as contributing to the particular financial needs of that household. There is also the wider test issue, which comes back to the same thing on means testing in respect of cohabiting couples, whose incomes are both considered in terms of whether they are entitled to payment but, as we saw during discussions of the Bill last night, when it comes to receiving payment, the assumption is that both people are contributing equally to the household and that the moneys of each are equally available to each person. That is an assumption being made about household budgeting, which is not always true. That assumption is being made at that point but when a household suffers a loss or bereavement, as we saw in respect of the legislation last night, it is no longer recognised as a household in the same sense. There are two issues. It seems that people are losing both ways.