John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister’s acknowledgment that the system in place is not working. My party has stated this consistently for several years. Last year I published proposals for the establishment of a State family maintenance agency based on similar models abroad. Across the water in England and in the North, there are systems in place which work well. The proposals I have brought forward are based on these models. They have worked in addressing the core problems. More importantly, they have helped to reduce child poverty through the collection of child maintenance payments. The Minister has rightly alluded to problems in the system with payments not being received such that people have to go to court to chase payments and have payments assessed. This is causing significant problems. I will touch on the review of the effects later.

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