Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

It is not that simple. I wish that it were. The mother is in receipt of the lone parent's allowance. The money paid to the Department by fathers is almost certainly considerably less than the lone parent's allowance. It is not a matter of the money not being passed on to families. If it were passed on, it would likely interfere with the mother's lone parent's allowance because her income would be above the lone parent's eligibility limit.

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