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

The Minister has been critical of the Millar report but is he aware of the concrete suggestions put forward by Dr. Millar to alleviate some of the problems that arise from the changed system? What does the Minister think of those proposals? They appear to be eminently sensible to me. Is the Minister concerned that the organisations representing single parents have advised large swathes of lone parents who are currently in the workforce that when the back to work family dividend comes to an end later this year - it is a two year scheme with 100% in one year and 50% in the second year - they should sign off the family income supplement and sign back on to the jobseeker's transition payment. This means they would go from a work related benefit back to a jobseeker's payment. Does that not indicate that the reforms are achieving the opposite to what was intended with regard to activation?

See this speech in context