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

I thank the Minister for bringing forward this amendment, having listened to the arguments put forward from this side of the House on Committee Stage. However, during the debate on the different Committee Stage amendments on this issue, I wanted the report to be produced and available within three months. I did so for a specific reason. The Minister's amendment proposes it will be produced within nine months. I proposed three months because we have real people suffering in a real way, namely lone parents who have gone back to work but who are worse off because of the changes introduced to the one-parent family payment scheme. I was hoping we would have the report available within three months to discuss it at the Oireachtas committee to ensure it could form part of the social welfare legislation which the Minister is proposing to introduce in the first quarter of next year.

I note the amendment states the report has to be produced not later than nine months. However, I am trying to emphasise there is a certain urgency about this matter. There is the additional factor that the organisations representing lone parents will be advising a large swathe of lone parents to revert from family income supplement, an employment-related payment, to jobseeker's transition, a social welfare payment, when the back to work family dividend runs out. If this report is not produced for nine months, that will already have happened.

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