Dr. Joe Whelan:

I thank the Deputy for the observations and questions. I do not have a whole lot to add. I do agree that during the period of cuts, those made to payments to single parent households were some of the most severe. The legacy of these cuts continues. Single parent households tend to experience higher levels of poverty than other types of units and this is, in some ways, still linked to those earlier cuts.

To comment briefly on the jobseeker's transitional payment, the kind of cliff edges here have been outlined already and I do not need to repeat them. This is a whole area, however, that needs to be looked at again and more so in the round. This payment is ostensibly one to encourage people to re-enter, return or enter the workforce, whatever the case may be and depending on individual circumstances. As I said, single parent households must navigate several financial cliff edges. The other aspect that I think is missing here is that there are no wrap-around supports for single parent households for those who would perhaps wish to re-enter the workforce.

I am thinking of things here like childcare provision and so on. As well as considering welfare on the income side, we must also consider supports to allow people to do what it says on the tin in terms of the payment. We are trying to encourage people to re-enter the workforce and to transition, if you like, into paid employment. We must also think about the other things needed to support households and people in households to be able to do this. The income cliff edge is one piece, but the kind of care cliff edge that somebody faces should they re-enter employment is also something that must be considered.