Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to raise the impact the cutbacks in community employment schemes will have on child-care provision services, particularly for those in receipt of the one-parent family payment who are working on community employment schemes. There are 1,288 community child-care facilities, many of them heavily subsidised and many operating in very socially and economically disadvantaged areas. Approximately 20% of the 8,200 employees in these facilities are community employment workers. This means that approximately 2,000 people who are involved in community child-care facilities are community employment scheme workers. Approximately 70% of those people are lone parents. It is important to consider any change the Government makes in this area because it will have a disproportionate impact on lone parents working on community employment schemes, which have been cut as a result of the recent changes.

In the budget in December, and in the Social Welfare Bill that was then introduced by the Minister for Social Protection, changes to the community employment scheme for lone parents make it less attractive for single parents to stay on community employment schemes. Until recently, lone parents participating in community employment schemes could keep their one parent family payment, as well as receiving the community employment payment of €208 per week. Since January, they must give up one of these payments. Since then, we have seen people whose terms have ended on community employment schemes leaving those schemes and very few lone parents are now applying to start the schemes. As a result, many schemes are now finding it difficult to recruit people to work in child care facilities.

It is the norm for the majority of one parent families to have some part-time work and such a person can earn up to €146 per week and retain the entire allowance or earn up to €450 per week while still keeping a small part of the one parent family payment. A person earning €146 can keep the full payment of €188 per week. I cannot understand why of all employees, the only group to which the rule does not apply is to those on community employment. A person on community employment who earns more than €200 per week loses the entire entitlement to the one parent family payment. If that person was working in a shop next door to the community employment scheme, or even working in a child care facility but employed directly by the facility, she could earn more than €200 per week while keeping most of the one parent family payment. If she happens to be on a community employment scheme, however, she will see her income cut. It is discrimination, singling out the one parent family parent who is participating in the community employment scheme. It is also having a detrimental impact on child care facilities around the country. What has the Minister against one parent families and the community employment schemes? The Minister is singling out those in receipt of the payment and on a community employment scheme for the biggest cut in income that does not apply to any other category of employment.

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