Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is because of the nature of the letters that I enlisted Women's Aid. When I read the letter, it actually seemed relatively benign. I have never been in a vulnerable position, thankfully, and that is why I called Ursula Regan from Women's Aid and asked her to come in with Margaret Martin to go through the letters and look at them from their perspective as people who deal with vulnerable women and men on a daily basis. They will write the letters; I am not going to write them. This will form part of what will be provided as part of a protocol in our office.

As I have told the Deputy, we are going to change the IT system so that, irrespective of the wording of the letters, anybody vulnerable who has ever presented with a case will never get a letter. Right now, however, there is a requirement to receive a one-parent family payment to pursue the parent who is not contributing to the maintenance of his or her child. I actually had to question why we are using the person who is maintaining the child as the conduit to chase the person who is not. I say this for all the reasons Deputy Coppinger raised, not least of which is that the undesirable arrangement referred to puts women back in the position of being under the control and power of men. Although most men are not abusive, why should a woman be under the control or power of a man because she has chosen to leave him and rear her children on her own? I have so many questions on the maintenance recovery section of my Department but, as I said, we will pursue in the coming weeks the best way to go forward with regard to maintenance recovery.

Deputy O'Dea is correct that it is absolutely ludicrous that we should be sending a letter to a man to say that just because Mary is seven and a half now, he has no more responsibility for her. That does not reflect the way I was reared, nor the way most people were reared. If one has a child, one has a responsibility to that child until he or she is 18 and, as most parents will tell one, long after that. That should be true for every single person who has a child, irrespective of whether he or she is living in the house with the child. The obligation we have towards our children stands for many years after the age of seven.

To be honest with the Deputy, I was made aware of the letter only yesterday. The situation is ludicrous and that is why we need to reflect on the role our Department should play, if any, in maintenance recovery in respect of welfare payments to children by the parents who are no longer in their lives on a daily basis.

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