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

While I understand the position on maintenance, the difficulty is that, on foot of the recent change, a person must have a child under the age of seven years to qualify for lone parent's allowance. Until recently, however, that age was 14 years, which meant that in the case of a single parent with a child under the age of 14 years and who was in receipt of the single parent allowance, the State could pursue the non-custodial parent to make a contribution to the State towards the cost of providing the allowance. As a result of the change, people can only receive lone parent's allowance while they have a child aged up to seven years. This means that lone parents with children over seven years but under 14 have been transferred to the jobseeker's transition payment and that the State does not have the same right to pursue the non-custodial parent when the lone parent has been transferred from receiving lone parent's allowance to the jobseeker's transition payment. I am asking the Tánaiste why such people should be let off the hook? Why not put in place a provision whereby the people in question, insofar as they can be identified, can be pursued in the same way they have been pursuable up to now?

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