Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The purpose of the one-parent family payment age reforms that were introduced in the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2012 is to reduce long-term social welfare dependency. The reforms aim to improve lone parents' access to the Department's range of education, training and employment support programmes in order to assist them in securing employment and financial independence for themselves and their children. In this context, I specifically provided for a lengthy seven year transition period. The relevant age in Ireland is seven years, but it is five years in the social welfare systems of almost all of the countries with which we are familiar.

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