Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Obviously the Department has not done an assessment of the specific impact of this measure on lone parents, many thousands of whom will lose out. Apparently an impact assessment was done on the budget measures and, according to the Minister, this showed that all lone parents, working or not working, would be better off as a result of the changes being introduced by the Government. It is a wonder that lone parents from one end of the country to the other are not doing cartwheels with delight now that they are all going to be better off. I wonder what they are all worried about.

The Minister referred to the fact that there are problems in this system at present. I remind her that a problem is not solved by adding to it. The Minister gave a specific and solemn commitment to this House that she would not introduce this change until we had a Scandinavian-type child care system in this country. When I asked her about it she said that child care was a matter for another Department, the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. However, this change in the criteria for lone parent allowance is a matter exclusively for herself. Does she intend to renege on the solemn promise she gave to this House and, through the House, to the lone parents from one end of this country to the other? Does she intend to renege on this promise or to keep the commitment she made to lone parents?

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