Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

To correct what the Deputy said, if someone receives a lone parent payment that commenced before 27 April 2011, on 4 July 2013 the age threshold reduces to 17 years of age. On behalf of Fianna Fáil, Deputy O'Dea seems to want lone parents to stay as a special category. I see parents as parents and we should refer to all parents and children, whether parents are in a formal marriage relationship, cohabiting or parenting alone. Fianna Fáil tends to categorise lone parents rather than, as other countries do, enabling lone parents to get back to education and training when their children have settled in school and, thereafter, into employment.

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