Dáil debates

Tuesday, 22 October 2019

9:40 pm

Photo of David CullinaneDavid Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I do not see him, as a Minister of State supporting Fine Gael, showing the same level of urgency or robustness as he did when he was in opposition. We warned then, as did the Minister of State and campaigning groups, that the measure would impoverish lone parent families. However, our efforts were to no avail. The Minister was not for turning and the cuts are still in place. The Minister of State is facilitating and allowing them to remain in place by supporting a Government that simply does not care.

We are debating a measure that should have been brought in instead of those cuts. Campaigning groups, in particular One Family and SPARK-Ireland - and I welcome those who are in the Gallery – called for this measure at the time but they were ignored. Instead, the Government attacked lone parents. Sinn Féin is calling on all Deputies to support the motion it has tabled. The motion is part of our campaign to see the establishment of child maintenance services. Lone parents in this State need this service to be put on a statutory footing. Guidelines are not enough. This was one of the Minister of State’s policies when he was in opposition.

For far too long, lone parents have been left to seek child maintenance payments from an ex-partner with no support or guidance from the State. This issue has been ignored for too long by successive Governments, which have been happy to leave it to parents to battle it out in courts. The court system is a direct barrier to abused parents and their children accessing child maintenance. I know that and the Minister of State and officials in the Department know it, which is why we need change. The Courts Service received almost 9,000 applications for maintenance orders during 2018. More than a quarter of these cases remained unresolved by the end of the court term. Delays are an inherent part of the proceedings. In cases of coercive control, domestic violence and abuse, child maintenance court cases can heighten hostilities. The outcome, unfortunately, for many women in particular is fear, intimidation and sometimes outright physical attack. It is time to end this out-of-date system and to use child maintenance as one means of lifting children and lone parents out of poverty. A legally enforceable child maintenance service would be a life-changing change in the way lone parents are treated by this State.

I appeal to the Minister of State to do in government what he said he would do when he was in opposition, namely, support the women who need support.

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