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

I want to remind the House of what the Minister's predecessor, Deputy Joan Burton, said in the Dáil on 18 April 2012 on changes to the lone parent allowance:

[S]even is too young for anyone to seriously contemplate any of these things without there being a system of safe, affordable and accessible child care in place, similar to what is found in the Scandinavian countries whose systems of social protection we aspire to. That is why I am undertaking tonight that I will only proceed with the measure to reduce the upper age limit to seven years in the event that I get a credible and bankable commitment on the delivery of such a system of child care by the time of this year's budget.

That was in April 2012 but we have seen no Scandinavian child care system put in place in the interim. Somebody said the nearest one would get to a Scandinavian child care system in this country is the car park in Ikea. The Minister said that the Millar report will not be a study on the financial impact of the changes for lone parents, particularly working lone parents who are cruelly penalised as a result of these changes. Will the Minister commission such an impact statement, which would be very relevant and which we would all love to see?

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