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

I propose to take Questions Nos. 36 and 39 together.

The research report, Poverty Dynamics of Social Risk Groups in the EU, produced by the ESRI and funded by my Department, analyses the significance of different systems of welfare regimes and their effectiveness in protecting vulnerable groups in 11 EU countries, including Ireland, over the ten-year period from 2004 to 2014. It showed that, across the 11 countries, lone parents and their families and working-age adults with a disability and their families are more at risk of material deprivation and income poverty than other groups.

The most recent data from the CSO Survey on Income and Living Conditions, SILC, for 2016 show that the consistent poverty rate for lone-parent households is 24.6%, slightly down from 26.2% in 2015. There was also a fall in the basic deprivation rate for lone-parent households to 50.1% in 2016, down from 57.9% in 2015. The figures for working age people with a disability are more mixed. The basic deprivation rate fell to 46.7% in 2016, from 53.2% in 2015. The consistent poverty rate, however, increased from 22.4% in 2015 to 26.3%, which is obviously disappointing. Given the economic recovery has not only continued but, thankfully, accelerated since 2014, with unemployment down from 11.3% in 2014 to 6.2% at present, I expect and hope the SILC data for 2017 will show further reductions in poverty for all sectors of society.

It is undeniable that lone-parent households and those of working people with a disability continue to experience deprivation and consistent poverty rates which are higher than those of the general population and I categorically state that we need to sustain our efforts to support those most in need. My Department, as well as providing income supports to people with disabilities, offers a range of employment support programmes, including the wage subsidy scheme and the EmployAbility service, as well as the partial capacity benefit scheme. The Intreo service is also available to provide employment support services for people with disabilities who wish to engage with the service on a voluntary basis. This year expenditure on these programmes will amount to some €50 million. Last September the Ability programme, supported by the European Social Fund, was launched. This is a new pre-activation programme which recognises the critical importance of engaging with young people with disabilities at a time when their disability threatens to keep them out of the workforce.

It is accepted that the best way to tackle poverty among lone parents is through employment. The recently published Indecon report echoed this view and found that the changes made to the one-parent family payment scheme over the last number of years increased employment and reduced welfare dependency. It also found that the changes increased the probability of employment and higher employment income for lone parents. The report concluded that assisting lone parents to enhance their skills also needs to be seen as a key objective as low paid employment will not on its own ensure a reduction in the risk of poverty. That is why we have a mantra within the Department that when we assist and encourage people through activation, we help them find a job, find a better job and find a career and the support systems do not just stop when they get their first job.

My Department’s social impact assessments of the budgets introduced since 2015 reflect the Government’s continued commitment to introducing improvements for lone parents in particular. These assessments show a cumulative increase of €36.75 in the average weekly household income of employed lone parents and €33.60 for unemployed lone parents. This will be further improved when the budget 2018 measures, that is, increases in the income disregard, the primary rate and the qualified child rate, come into effect next month. The effect of these measures will see a lone parent on the one-parent family payment or jobseeker’s transitional payment who is working 15 hours a week on the national minimum wage being better off by nearly €1,000 per year.

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