Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)

This is a highly unsatisfactory situation because I am being given conflicting information. I was told originally that, in the first part of this, the definition of "parent" for the purpose of qualifying for a one parent family payment was being widened to take into consideration the specific case I raised. As I said, the person in this case was precluded from getting a one parent family payment. One of the reasons he did not qualify as a qualified parent was because of his unmarried status. I was told that the change the Minister was introducing was to cater for somebody like that. On Committee Stage, however, the Minister told me that she would not favour that. I can only conclude that the Minister has made a mistake. It seemed absolutely clear to me originally from the briefing that the Minister would take into consideration the case I raised, but she then backtracked on it on Committee Stage.

If the definition is to be extended, why is a saver clause necessary? Such a clause is intended to clarify that those who got in under the line will remain in whereas others may not in future. There seems to be much confusion and the Minister must sort her Department out.

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