Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

We are having a national debate on this matter. We have had a number of fora and public discussions. As he is Chairman of the Joint Committee on Social and Family Affairs, I have listened carefully to what the Deputy said and I will take it on board as part of the discussion we are having. As soon as I am satisfied that we have reached some conclusions that are sensible and workable, then I will go back to Government with proposals for legislation in this area.

If the Deputy is indicating that the present proposals where the cut-off is at age eight could throw up a kind of trap, we will certainly look at that. It was proposed in the recommendations that there would be a five-year lead-in time which would give people a fair length of time to adjust to the new circumstances. People on existing schemes would continue, as it were, until we got to that stage.

The age of eight referred to in the report is not one on which I am necessarily stuck. If there is a better age at which to do it, I would certainly consider that option. The reality is that the current one parent family payment provides long-term income support until a child is 18 or 22. We have all agreed in this House that it is not good for those young people aged 18 to 22 years or their parents for there not to be some State intervention or support. There is general agreement that if we are to tackle child poverty, which is especially prevalent with lone parents, we really must get to grips with that situation and have that interaction with the State at regular intervals as the child grows up.

I agree with the Deputy also that child care is critical to all of this. A total of €500 million has been invested in the equal opportunities child care programme. Almost 41,000 new child care places have been created and by 2011 a total of 91,000 child care places will have been created. We should look at this and the additional funding which has been invested. The Deputy is aware of the new child care supplement of €1,000 per annum. However, I acknowledge that the subject of lone parents is a particular issue because we cannot get them back to work or training or education — if that is their wish — without addressing the child care issue. We are working closely on these initiatives with other Departments which have a direct role in the child care area.

I join Deputy Penrose in complimenting OPEN, and Frances and Camille and all those who work there in the different organisations. I had a very good meeting with them recently. They are quite right to raise issues and I will listen carefully to them because they are in the front line of all these reforms. I am trying not to be political about this but I genuinely appreciate the open mind that has been shown in this House on this issue. If this were not the case or this issue became a political football, we simply would not make any progress. Whatever political advantage would be gained, we would be unfair to many thousands of people. It is important that we try to push on with this as best we can.

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