Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I accept that. I do not know if Deputy O'Dea has had an opportunity to consider.

On the general argument, while I accept that the Deputies who have spoken have the interests of lone parents at heart, we must ask ourselves a couple of honest questions as a society. We have had a system in which the social welfare approach to lone parents has been very passive. Someone who went onto lone-parents allowance could be left entirely alone.

With regard to those parenting on their own, it must be borne in mind there is a lot of work parenting a child or children. Many people parenting on their own have done very well at it. Although we are spending over €1 billion on the one parent family payment, none of the Deputies can explain why, in the context of the large spend, the outcomes on poverty for lone parents have been worse. That is a question that must be asked in the House.

I have many friends and know many people who parented on their own. Many of them aged from being lone parents by the time their children reached adulthood. I listened to what they have to say and they consistently tell me they regret not going back earlier to education, training and employment. Leaving the workforce and not picking up on education and qualifications means people run the risk of only being only able to go for low paid and temporary or casual work. Deputies know exactly what I am talking about. How has our system done that? It has done so by being passive and not providing a pathway. In the cases of very young lone parents, who had a child in the middle or later teenage years or early 20s, the best outcomes, and the lone parents who have done most successfully in terms of economic outcomes for themselves and their children, are those who have gone back to education or training or taken up some employment and retained a connection to the labour market. The women in these situations have often been from middle-class families or from parents who solidly supported them to stay in education, or to take a few years out while the baby was young and then to continue with education so that they qualify and are in a position to get the kinds of jobs they aspire to and, ultimately, to have a career with a living wage.

We must reflect carefully on the cases where that has not been the experience. From his experience in Limerick, Deputy O'Dea knows the sterling work by a series of community organisations in different parishes in Limerick. With his hand on his heart, Deputy O'Dea would not say the outcomes in Limerick city have been the kind of outcomes he would want in terms of progression for those parenting on their own. I refer particularly to the outcomes for children. This also applied during the height of the Celtic tiger. Much money went into this area.

It is a difficult job but what I am trying to do is to move social welfare from being passive to proactive. We can examine countries that have tried to do something differently and where the outcomes have been better. What is critical is a society where the emphasis is on parents being able to remain connected to education, finish education or return after a certain time to get the qualifications that enable them to get employment. This measure recognises the situation in the United Kingdom and the North, about which I have a discussion with Deputy Ó Snodaigh, where what is termed the lone parent "ageing out age" is seven years of age in the UK, with conditionality. In Scandinavian countries it is generally far younger. I referred to this in the debate in the Seanad and I am sure Deputy Ó Snodaigh recalls the modification on the point of people genuinely seeking work. The purpose of the amendment is to develop capacity to take into account the caring requirements and the real social needs to give enhanced opportunities and encouragement to lone parents to stay in education and, ultimately, to be able to get the kind of employment they aspire to and that will enable them to have a career.

I reiterate that I want to see us looking at parents as parents, not asking their relationship status. Much of the social welfare system was built upon relationship status. Although thankfully it is not so much the case nowadays, the child of a lone parent was seen as having a greater challenge than the child of a couple living together or married. Deputies referred to the poverty rates of lone parents. We must have the same ambitions for lone parents as we have for other people so that they can participate fully.

I have had an opportunity to visit and meet many of the organisations involved. Almost all of them are positive about lone parents being encouraged to take up employment and, particularly, education and training. There is a major increase in people in receipt of back to education allowance. I am happy to say we have developed and begun, on a pilot basis, 6,500 after-school places. These will be available to parents going back to work.

I am also conscious of the fact that our system must encourage married couples where no one in the family is working and both adults are in receipt of social welfare payments. We must encourage them so that no child, for a long period of childhood, is living in a house where none of the adults are at work. The research on those at risk of poverty or those with bad experiences of poverty identify jobless households as those with the worst of all outcomes, whether one or more adults lives in the house. The after-school child care system has been rolled out since April and it will be fully rolled out nationally by September, the start of the new school year. It is a start but it is an important one because for parents at work, when the children are in school, work within the framework of school hours suits best. The extra hour or two getting back after school can be a vital issue for parents whose children are at school.

We are rolling out the new Intreo offices and lone parents who are in the transitional stage will have access to all of the services of the Intreo offices, while taking into account that they might be more interested in part-time work given their caring responsibilities.

My ambition is to see one-parent families being enabled to become active in employment, education, training, work experience and work opportunities. Deputy O'Dea said that getting employment is one of the most important indicators. With regard to the case he mentioned, if he provides us with the details we will certainly examine it. It is hard to take in the details in summary form but perhaps he will give a copy to the officials. I believe having a focus on the fact that lone parents will be expected to be involved in education will put a very firm focus in the Department on looking at additional supports for lone parents, particularly child care and after-school child care. We will be spending approximately €14 million on the after-school child care places. That is a significant amount of money at a time when the budget is extremely tight. It is a development I really look forward to in this country.

The early childhood education development initiated by the previous Government was a very positive development. Obviously there is a long way to go in terms of rolling out the quality of services we would like, but huge numbers of children in my constituency avail of it and it has been hugely positive. My colleague, the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, has said she would ultimately like a second year to become available, as I would, on a phased basis as resources permit.

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