Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

When compared internationally, our payments to lone parents are extremely generous. The Deputy probably agrees with me that when a parent is alone, it is desirable that, particularly after the child is well settled in school, the parent, especially if he or she is young, should be given every encouragement and support to get back into work or education and, ultimately, employment so that he or she can become financially independent.

The Deputy's references to the current income disregard, the payment a lone parent receives, depends on his or her weekly income. For people with weekly means of less than €110, working and earning up to that amount, the full rate of the one parent family allowance will be paid. Earnings above this limit are assessed at 50% up to a maximum of €425 per week. People whose earnings exceed that sum are no longer entitled to lone parent's allowance. That in effect is a very strong support to give an additional boost to lone parents who go back to work. Many lone parents work on a part-time basis, fewer than 20 hours a week, because of their commitments to family care. This is a very significant support in that regard.

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