Seán Ryan (Dublin North, Labour)

I move amendment No. 2:

In page 3, before section 1, to insert the following new section:

"1. —The Minister shall as soon as may be after the passing of this Act prepare and lay before both Houses of the Oireachtas a report on the redressing the disproportionate loss of income for recipients of social insurance payments to deserted wife where earnings exceed the prescribed amount.".

This relates to my contribution on the previous amendment. On Committee Stage during last year's debate I pointed out to the Minister that, for the previous three years, I had highlighted an anomaly that existed in deserted wife benefit. The Minister and his officials acknowledged the anomaly but it seemed nothing was being done about it and I threw up my arms in frustration. I am delighted to now put it on the record that the Minister has made significant moves on deserted wife benefit and I am pleased that I played a significant role in highlighting this anomaly. Some 9,000 people receive deserted wife benefit and part of the case that was made was that no means test applied to many payments from the social insurance fund.

I am delighted that from May 2007 a new single gross earnings limit of €20,000 will be introduced for recipients of deserted wife benefit which will bring substantial improvements to the lives of over 2,500 people, including constituents who have contacted me welcoming this development. When a recipient crosses the €20,000 income threshold, that person will receive a transition payment for six months to ease the impact of losing entitlement to the full deserted wife benefit. However, what would happen if the person lost that job during the six month transition? Would the person be entitled to receive deserted wife benefit again? What if a recipient of deserted wife benefit became a carer and wished to revert to deserted wife benefit on the death of the person being cared for? Is this possible?

Regarding this amendment, what would be the cost of disposing of income limits entirely and will the Minister consider this as he has already moved in this direction to an extent? Is it the Minister's intention to increase the one parent family payment every year? One of the great anomalies of this payment is that, since it began in 1992, the scale of payments has increased. I hope those in receipt of this can look forward to annual increases in the payment, mirroring normal increases that occur generally.

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