John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Unfortunately, the situation for many lone parents is that the maintenance payment is being treated as household income. That is contrary to what it should be. It is a payment for the child; it is not household income. Unfortunately, what we see is that the payment is means tested for family income support and other payments, whether it is paid or not. That is the reality. It is putting many lone parents in financially worse-off situations. There is a serious problem here. Why are lone parents being forced into messy, dangerous situations? There are many such cases. I must contradict the Minister. There is one case of which the Minister's predecessor was aware as I brought it directly to his attention where a lone parent was forced to go abroad to try to identify where the ex-partner was living and to try to get a payment put in place. Even if there is a court order, it does not mean the payment will be made. There is a serious problem at issue. Lone parents are being unfairly penalised and there need to be changes. I urge the Minister to examine the issue, which is unfair, unsafe and financially damaging to many lone parents.

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