John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am surprised by the Minister's amendment because he agreed to the amendment I and my colleague, Deputy Denise Mitchell, put forward last week on Committee Stage. That amendment proposed the report would be commissioned, produced and presented to the Oireachtas committee within a six-month timeframe. There are significant difficulties facing lone parents. We all know the poverty rates and the impact on lone parents of the changes brought in over the past several years. We know the family income supplement was not increased in this year's budget. Groups such as SPARK, Single Parents Acting for the Rights of Kids, presented the facts and figures to all Members here showing that, because of the failure to increase family income supplement, lone parents are financially better off to stay on jobseeker's payment rather than go back into the workforce. While the Minister had difficulties with the Dr. Millar and Dr. Crosse report on changes to the lone parent allowance, it showed clearly what needs to happen in this area and the impact of the changes to lone-parent payments.

It is imperative this report is commissioned, carried out and presented to the Oireachtas in a timely fashion. On Question Time this week, the Minister said he hoped to have the report produced and back to the House in June 2017. That is seven months away. With this amendment, he now wants to push it out to nine months. That is unacceptable. I know Deputy Joan Collins's amendment on this issue proposed the report would be compiled in six months. She said she was piggybacking on our amendment to ensure the issue was discussed.

I support the Minister's amendment, bar the timeframe. We need to have the report as soon as possible. I do not see the rationale for pushing it to nine months. It can be delivered within the six-month timeframe. The Minister's timeframe will not give enough time to analyse the report, given the narrow window between the publication of it and next year's budget.

This is not about commissioning a report for the sake of a report. There needs to be action at the end of this. We know the real life cases and the real impacts changes to payments have had on lone parents. Up to 22.1% of children in single-parent families are living in a constant state of poverty. These are the facts but there are real people out there behind all of this. We need action on it.

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