Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

Anti-fraud measures maintain the pressure since it takes funds from those who deserve them, and they must be available to them. I have made this point many times, especially in the area of lone parents. We cannot simply throw money at a social issue and hope that it salves our conscience. We must get behind the payment and see what the social issue is and whether we can solve the basic problem, which is to ensure that such parents can get to work through the provision of child care, another area to which we must apply much more work and thought.

This area spans five Departments. The Government has been discussing moving on the area at recent meetings and I believe that we are set to make some real progress. Child care was one aspect, and the other is one on which Deputy Penrose has spent some time, writing about it recently in The Irish Times. He has called time and again for improvements in disregards. Lone parents have a disregard significantly greater than any accorded in other means-tested areas. To that extent, the system is designed to encourage them back to work.

Having said that, we have not achieved the same level of employment participation secured by lone parents in other countries, something borne out by EU and OECD studies. The latter found that employment participation among lone parents in Ireland is among the lowest in the organisation. Where they are working, they tend to be in low-paid employment. All those findings indicate that the current arrangements might not be the most appropriate to facilitate a real choice of employment and, ultimately, better standards of living. That is why the Cabinet committee on social inclusion has a senior officials group and sub-group, which were to report to me by the middle of this year, having examined earnings disregards and a range of other issues to do with lone parents.

I intend to seek other professional advice on what to do about the cohabitation rule specifically. I must also be fair and not upset other arrangements regarding other types of families. One cannot simply remove the cohabitation rule without thinking matters through. One must ensure that the people involved get the same amount of money but that, at the same time, payments to a family cohabiting in the ordinary sense are not upset. One obviously has to watch that. I make this invitation genuinely: if there are thoughts on how we might do that, I would welcome them. I never liked social policy on the cohabitation rule. Even leaving the parents aside, it is wrong for the children, and the State will have to figure out a better way of doing it. Until then, it will remain a little like the old argument regarding the points system on the leaving certificate examination. It is not great, but until one finds something better, one cannot mess around with it. At this point, I say that I do not like it, since it is not good social policy. Between us, we must find a better way. The group will do some of that work and I look forward to hearing Deputies' thoughts on it — I would certainly welcome them.

We should also approach with caution some of the myths regarding lone parents. It is simply not fair that the prevalent image is of teenagers getting pregnant, while they account for only 3% of lone parents. That means that 97% are not teenagers, and we must get that into our heads as a nation for a start. There has been too much pub talk about that and it is neither right nor accurate. The average age is approximately 26, 27, 28 or even a little higher, and that shows a clear element of choice. That is something of which we should take account.

There is another myth, which is also pub talk, that somehow youngsters, who, as I said, are not so young, take this path time and again because the benefits are so luxurious. No one does that. The figures I have show that only 15% have more than one child. That means that 80% or 85% have one child. The vast majority have one child and are not engaged in any practice seeking to secure funds. I certainly cannot think of anyone with that philosophy, and the figures bear that out.

The back to education grant has been raised, and since it arises later, I will not go into it in any detail. In response to Deputies' demands, I have changed the qualifying period back to 12 months. I have said that I will keep it under review with the intention of reducing it further.

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