Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

-----because in fact we are putting extra resources into lone parents and we are particularly providing for the family income supplement, which means that where a lone parent goes to work, they are getting a top-up in respect of each of their children.

Second, in 2015 I brought in the back to work family dividend, which means a lone parent holds on to their €29.80 per week in terms of the weekly social welfare payment for their child, 100% in the first year they go back to work and 50% in the second year they are back at work. I chose the year 2004 because Deputy O'Dea was in government then, as far as I remember, and his Government was in a boom period.

My point is that under Fianna Fáil lone parents were at a risk of poverty that was four and a half times greater than the rest of the population. In recent years this rate has fallen, and their risk of poverty is now two and a half greater than the rest of the population, because we provided a wrap-around system of incentives for lone parents to go back to work. Also, this year, lone parents who are on the transitional payment and working on the minimum wage for only 15 hours a week will see an increase in their overall income of €28 per week, made up of the increase in the minimum wage plus the other supports.

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