Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

If somebody is going to court and so on, he or she has to be forewarned that it is much better to get the money for the child than for himself or herself because that is the way that person will keep the maximum amount of money. We need to have a further debate about the mechanics of this so that the person looking for maintenance realises the implications of the money being paid to him or her as opposed to being paid separately to that individual and the child.

It should be remembered that means testing is fairly penal at 50%. It is probably said it is very generous to give 50%. The way I always look at that is the highest rate of income tax in the country is only 40%. Many people paying 40% tax on good salaries are whingeing about that 40%. The 50% is quite a penal rate of clawback. I question whether we are getting good value for that money. I am of the belief that the more people parenting alone, or lone parents as they have been commonly called today, are facilitated in getting above the poverty threshold, the more we are investing in their children and their future, and the more we are alleviating poverty in two generations.

It is not the basis of this Bill, but it is something that we as a committee need to reflect on deeply.

I have a specific question. According to the briefing, if the claimant has housing costs, for example, rent or mortgage, then there is a maximum of up to €95.23. I suspect that that figure of €95.23 goes back to the days of the old punt and has not changed since. I would be interested in the Department providing me with information on what the average cost of mortgages or rents was when the €95.23 was decided and comparing that with today’s cost of housing. Compared with what was initially intended, the officials will find that that amount is derisory. People in all sorts of circumstances break up. It is just one of the facts of life. Other people have been lone parents since the birth of their children. Some of them have taken on family commitments, mortgages and so on. I guarantee the officials that, for someone with a mortgage of a few hundred thousand euro, €95.23 per week is a small amount to take off.

As a committee, we first need to gather a little information on when the figure of €95.23 was set and what the average cost of housing – to purchase and to rent – was in those days and what it is now. We will then be able to devise an adjustor to decide what the figure would be now just to keep level with what €95.23 amounted to at the time it was fixed.

I welcome the Bill but, while it is progressive, it is too conservative. Is the figure of €95.23 set out in law? Was it set by ministerial order or was it an actual legal decision? I suspect the latter. If so, it needs to be changed through this Bill or through the Social Welfare Bill later this year.