John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge it is not a new condition but that does not mean it is a fair one. It is an unnecessary condition for the receipt of the one-parent family payment. Why should the lone parent have to make contact or try to make contact with an ex-partner to seek child maintenance in order to receive a payment to which she or he should be entitled in the first place? Lone parents are raising their children on their own. That should be the only condition for the receipt of the payment. Lone parents, many of whom who have been in touch with me, are being put in precarious and very dangerous circumstances trying to chase down ex-partners to try to get them to agree to making maintenance payments. The Minister touched on this. In some cases, there is horrific abuse, both physical and mental, which is putting lone parents in a very dangerous position. There are numerous examples around the world of models in which lone parents do not have to chase down the payment themselves. There are examples that this State should be considering.

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