Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

The research into indebtedness among lone parents was commissioned by the One Parent Exchange Network with funding from my Department's money advice and budgeting service and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. It focuses on the situation where debt has become a dominant aspect of people's lives and has come to carry serious social and health implications. The revelations on debt from an earlier study carried out by OPEN in 2004, entitled Living on the Book, prompted OPEN to seek a partner and launch further research into indebtedness among lone parents.

The issue deals with the extent to which the absence of affordable child care is a contributory factor in preventing many lone parents from entering the workforce. As part of the ending child poverty initiative under Sustaining Progress, a steering group has been established, chaired by the Department of the Taoiseach, to address the obstacles to employment faced by lone parents. This group is scheduled to report back to the Cabinet committee on social inclusion by the end of July 2005. The steering group will examine five specific topics to assess how they impact on employment opportunities and family circumstances. These are income supports, employment, education, child care and support programmes and information.

In addition, I have established a working group in my Department to review the income support arrangements for lone parents. Some of the main issues to be addressed by the working group include the contingency basis of the one-parent family payment, cohabitation, maintenance and the role of secondary benefits. As part of this review, 40 organisations dealing with lone parents were asked for their views. Detailed submissions have been received from OPEN, the money advice and budgeting service and from many of the other groups consulted. The Department is examining the submissions received and is considering the issues raised. It is intended that this review will feed into the work of the Sustaining Progress group.

The research conducted by OPEN found that the average size of arrears of a lone parent household is €1,092 and the average size of credit based debt was €7,862. The arrears relate to utilities such as rent, electricity supply, gas and telephone bills. Lone parents in debt are more likely to be using home collection credit or illegal moneylenders than mainstream providers. The money advice and budgeting service was set up to combat money lending and to assist people in managing their money with a view to regaining control of their finances. The service has been and remains a practical response to those in debt or at risk of getting into debt.

I met last week with the Irish Bankers' Federation as a result of the report's findings and received assurances that the legal requirements for opening bank accounts and accessing bank services will be communicated to counter staff, and that it would continue co-operation with related bodies, including the money advice and budgeting service. Later this week, I will meet the ESB and the Irish League of Credit Unions to discuss the report's findings on these groups. I look forward to receiving the report of the group of senior officials and my Department's review of income support arrangements. I also look forward to working with a number of groups and people, including the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform who has responsibility for child care, in addressing these complex issues.

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