Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)

I move amendment No. 9:

In page 9, between lines 16 and 17, to insert the following:

"13.—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 need for foster parents to be considered a qualified parent and for fostered children to be considered a qualified child for the purposes of qualifying for the one parent family payment.".

I return to this issue of fostering as there may have been some confusion about it in the past. It arises from a case I brought to the attention of the Minister's Department where an unmarried couple had fostered two children. The woman in question passed away and the man had to give up his job. He applied for the one parent family payment but was refused despite him having cohabited with his partner for 28 years. They were, to all intents and purposes, a couple. He was refused because he was not regarded as a qualified parent because he is not the parent of a qualified child. The term "parent" does not include a foster parent.

If the man was in the same position with two foster children and had a child of his own, he would have had a qualified child and would have got the payment for all three children. There is clearly a problem with the legislation. This has been identified by senior people in the Minister's Department as an anomaly which needs to be addressed by way of legislation.

When we got the briefing, we were advised that the Bill as drafted provided for the widening of the definition of a parent to include people in the quite unusual circumstances I outlined. I was prepared to take that at face value until I raised it on Committee Stage and was advised by the Minister that this was not the intention of the change in the legislation, and that it was the Minister's intention to ensure that a person in such circumstances would not get the one parent family payment.

I am at a loss to know what to do from here on in. This is a real issue that has been identified as an anomaly in the legislation. The indication strongly given by the Department was that it would be dealt with and yet the Minister has indicated it will not be. If there is some confusion, I accept that and it is fine. Will the Minister consider dealing with the anomaly in the legislation? The number of people being affected is quite small but it is a clear anomaly which needs to be addressed.

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