David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)

I agree with the thrust of what the Minister is doing. He stated that he will circulate the document, which is very interesting. He was very careful to mention the income of €20,000 adding up to a final total of €33,000, but he neglected to point out the outgoing expenditure. If a lone parent works and must rely on child care for his or her children, then child care alone could cost €9,600 per child per annum. That takes a great lump out of a lone parent's income. We have not even looked at the cost of child care for second and subsequent children.

The Vincentian partnership recently produced a document that showed the real costs of living, with various baskets for people in different categories. The EU-SILC report for 2005 stated that one in ten people experienced debt problems from ordinary living expenses. This has been the most common type of deprivation reported since 2003 and it is particularly prevalent for households with children. In 2005, almost 40% of lone parent households reported having debt problems, along with 15.3% of other parents in other households. Among houses without children, proportions range from 4.5% for households with two adults to 6.3% for households with three or more adults. The Minister has acknowledged the fact that families are going into debt from ordinary living expenses. They are not going to Barbados, buying yachts or flash cars. They must borrow to survive and the Minister has expressed alarm at the level of debt and the interest that is being paid back. This proves that people out there are under pressure.

I welcome what the Minister has done, as it is heading in the right direction.

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