Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)

I will try to deal with three areas of the Bill on foot of the arguments made by the Minister. Nobody would attempt to say lone parents do not want to work because they do. If the Minister were introducing her measure when jobs were plentiful, there might be some basis to her argument that it would be easy to get back into the workplace. However, we are in a recession. The legislation could mean that lone parents will be put onto jobseeker's benefit, on which basis they must be available for work. If they do not take up work, their jobseeker's benefit could be cut. If they are very concerned about their child and want to take up work, they will be punished. Cutting the one-parent family payment when a child reaches seven is the equivalent of introducing the wrong measure at the wrong time in the wrong place.

Everyone was stunned by the reduction from 14 to seven years. At meetings I have had with groups such as Open, Treoir, the National Women's Council, Barnardos and SPARK, and the women who have been actively involved in campaigning, I noted all were stunned that the change was proposed without any real negotiation. On foot of considerable pressure building up recently, the Minister said in the Chamber last week that seven is too young. Ages from eight to 14 are also too young. Deputy Ó Snodaigh stated that even the ages from 14 to 18 are very precarious for teenagers. The Minister would be obviously aware of this. Support is required at this time. It makes a difference having two people in the home; when there is but one person in the home, it is practically impossible to juggle every task.

Reference was made to the putting in place of Scandinavian-type child facilities, not just for children of lone parents but also for those of the population in general. We desperately need a proper child care system and facilities. Even for parents who are working, child care is not affordable. There are people who cannot gain access to it, and it is based on a private, for-profit model rather than a general community employment-related, affordable model. We are starting from very low base.

I asked the Minister today to outline the conditions that would result in sufficient child care support. All I heard in response was that the two relevant Departments would discuss the matter. The measure should be in place in six months according to the budget and the system the Minister envisages is to be rolled out within 18 months. We do not even know what is proposed. This is unbelievable.

Many organisations that have their finger on the pulse, including SPARK, whose representatives experience what I refer to every day of the week, say what is proposed is just not possible. They are stating seven is too young and want us to oppose the change. It is not just Members in the Dáil who are saying section 4 of the Bill should be opposed - Ms Francis Byrne of OPEN is also saying so. I am thrilled with OPEN's "7 is TOO YOUNG" campaign. Posters are on billboards around the city and country. Ms Byrne states:

[W]e do not believe that changes to the One Parent Family Payment should be cemented in legislation before affordable and accessible care is in place. The Minister has made it clear that there is no extra funding available for investment in restructuring childcare services in the short or medium term. We simply do not believe that radical reform of childcare services can happen in the next 18 months when the changes set out in the Social Welfare Bill would become a reality for lone parents, particularly in light of the current fiscal climate.

Ms Norah Gibbons of Barnardos states:

We absolutely support the development of such comprehensive services here [as announced by the Minister], in fact they are the kind of services all of us have called for for many years. However, we would ask the Minister to provide evidence of any country that has made the kind of transition in childcare services we are talking about in just 18 months against a backdrop of cutbacks [...].

Ms Orla O'Connor of the National Women's Council of Ireland states:

It is incomprehensible that changes that will increase child poverty should be set in stone before comprehensive reform of childcare services is underway. In the absence of a framework for restructuring the delivery of childcare and after school care services in Ireland, Section 4 of the Social Welfare Bill must be removed.

Treoir, an established organisation with which I am sure the Minister has had contact, urges us to vote against section 4 of the Bill on the grounds that it would, if enacted, mean lone parents with a child over seven would be ineligible for the one-parent family payment from 2014. The organisation claims that in the absence of vital support services, child care, training and flexible working hours, the legislation will have a disastrous effect on many one-parent families and will just not work.

These organisations have the required knowledge and background. They state we should vote against section 4 on the basis that the Minister cannot outline the kind of Scandinavian child care facility she mentioned. To cut the relevant age to seven without having a framework for proper child care facilities does not wash and will not wash with people. It certainly has not washed with the people who have been affected.

In an earlier debate, I referred to the Swedish system. In Sweden, preschool care is available to children from age one until they begin the preschool class at the age of six. There is a legally costed limit. The system is affordable to all parents and the municipal government is responsible for providing preschool care, normally within three to four months after parents have submitted their requests. Preschools can be publicly or privately run. In most cases, this allows parents to return to full-time work as soon as their parental leave is finished. Children in Sweden begin preschool at different ages and attend for different amounts of time per week. The system is open all year round. There is a preschool transition year at age 6. The municipality is required to offer places in preschool classes to children from the autumn of the year in which they turn six. A preschool class covers at least 525 hours per year and is provided free of charge, and it includes meals. This system of preschool, school and after-school provision was built up over many years of radical change. What the Minister proposes is just not feasible and she should be honest about it. She should not try to imply a Scandinavian system will be in place.

Many parents made the point to us that it is not just a question of preschool, school or after-school care as it is also a question of getting one's children to school at 8.45 a.m. and collecting them at 2.30 p.m. One may not have anybody else to do so. Deputy Ó Snodaigh stated a family with two parents can juggle collection duties. It is a question of jobs.

I will oppose the Bill if section 4 remains therein. Even at this point, the Minister should consider leaving the relevant age at 14, rather than seven, pending the changes she seems confident will be implemented in the next year and a half. When they are implemented, we can consider the relevant issues.

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