Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

I am aware the Deputy wishes to ask a range of questions in respect of such disregards and I will deal with them on Committee Stage.

It may be of assistance to the Deputy to know that one-parent family payment recipients may also benefit from the budget improvement in the assessment of capital for means purposes. This significantly increases the capital disregard from €12,700 to €20,000. In respect of the disregard of €146 per week, earnings above this limit are assessed at 50% up to a maximum of €293 per week. This depends on whether one is in receipt of the minimum or maximum level of lone parent's allowance. Deputy Penrose is strongly of the view that increasing substantially that disregard is the best way to encourage lone parents to return to employment. We will certainly examine that matter. One must try to strike a balance in order that the Department's funds are targeted. However, Deputy Penrose made an interesting point and I will consider it.

A number of other points were made in respect of lone parents and I have taken these on board. I am heartened by the response of the Dáil to the comments I made recently in this regard. A sane, sensible, calm and rational debate is required in respect of this matter. Nobody is threatening the income of lone parents. However, I am seeking to ensure that they have a better quality of life, better choices and more options. We can ill afford to have 60,000 of 80,000 lone parents who might be available for work not availing of the choice to do so, particularly at a time when we are seeking workers to come here from other parts of the world. It is too big a resource to leave untapped, particularly if these people wish to be part of the workforce. It must be a matter of choice but we must remove the obstacles to their entering the workforce.

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