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

I welcome the Minister's initiative in this regard and wish it every success. She is correct that there is a disconnect within the Department, centrally and locally. I have come across cases where barring or protection orders had been submitted, yet a local social welfare officer insisted on the person in question pursuing a maintenance claim.

On the liable relative provisions, traditionally it has been possible for a person in receipt of one-parent's payment, in conjunction with the Department, to get the recovery maintenance unit involved in collecting money from a former partner. This no longer occurs when the youngest child reaches his or her seventh birthday and the lone parent transfers to the jobseeker's transition payment. Why are the services of the maintenance recovery unit not available to people who have been in receipt of one-parent's allowance who transition to the jobseeker's transition payment because the youngest child reaches the age of seven?

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