Willie Penrose (Westmeath, Labour)

I have been the subject of some of them myself, so I know what it is like. Deputy Seán Ryan is extremely adept at dealing with this area and the Minister gave him credit for some of the points he made on Committee Stage. Deputy Ryan will be speaking on this matter later and I certainly do not wish to hijack something in which he has a deep interest and has outlined extremely well. Will the Minister take cognisance of the anomaly whereby a recipient of deserted wives' benefit can have her payment reduced by more than €1,600 per annum for every €1,270 per annum gross earned in excess of €12,697, which is €10,000 per annum? We are aware that the entire system changed in 1997 when the one-parent family scheme was introduced, but Deputy Ryan has consistently raised the anomaly involved because the scheme became means-tested. Does the Minister agree that the anomaly is unjust? The thrust of the deserted wives' benefit is that nobody should be worse off as a result of this anomaly which we now have a chance to remove. It would be a glaring omission, indeed a sin, on our behalf if we failed to remove this anomaly. Only the Minister can deal with this matter.

I received a lovely letter from the Ceann Comhairle this morning — they are certainly not cheques when they arrive from him — ruling my amendment No. 3 out of order. The deserted wives' benefit scheme closed off new applications with effect from 2 January 1997 when the one-parent family scheme was introduced through the Social Welfare Act 1996. No new applications were received after that date. At the time the deserted wives' benefit scheme was abolished, a woman in receipt of it would continue to receive the payment for as long as she had a continuous entitlement to the deserted wives' benefit. We now have a major anomaly, however, whereby it involves more than a euro for euro reduction. It would leave us open to significant criticism if we failed to address this matter in the context of the Bill.

The thrust of amendment No. 3, which was ruled out of order by the Ceann Comhairle, was to address this anomaly. I do not know why it was ruled out of order. We want it reviewed to force a debate on the floor of the House and to ensure the Minister is fully aware that this anomaly constitutes a grossly unjust measure. The persons affected will be worse off, losing €1,600 after earning €1,270. It does not make sense so I ask the Minister to address that matter.

With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, my colleague, Deputy Seán Ryan, would like to contribute because he has expertise in this area.

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