Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

The changes in the one parent family payment were first introduced by Deputy Fleming's party in 2010 when it changed the age for the lone parent payment. However, unlike this Government, his party made no provision for changes in the child care system to accompany that change. The difference on this occasion is that the changes being made in respect of the one parent payment are being accompanied by changes to child care provision. This year's Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012 contains changes so that for new recipients from May 2012, the one parent family payment will be made until the youngest child reaches the age of 12.

Many of those who raised concerns about the measures being introduced in the Bill are concerned about reducing the age to seven. The Minister for Social Protection has already made it clear that she shares these concerns without their being a system of safe, affordable and accessible child care in place.

The Departments of Social Protection and Children and Youth Affairs are already working to take a co-ordinated, cross-departmental approach to child care and after school care for the children of working parents. Those Departments have already established a sub-committee of the interdepartmental group on the single working age payment to examine the delivery of after school care and to develop an appropriate framework for this. The Department of Social Protection is providing data on the numbers of one parent family payment recipients by age of child to the Department of Children and Youth Affairs so that it can develop an information register on the number, type, cost and location of after school places available on a county basis. The Department of Children and Youth Affairs is liaising with the county child care committees to examine after school care that is available and gaps in the service.

The development of the national employment and entitlements service and the profiling of jobseekers, which is under way in the Department of Social Protection, will lead to a better identification and understanding of the supports needed by individual customers to help them to get back to work and the extent to which these are available and affordable.

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