Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for raising this important issue. I am pleased to have this opportunity to respond to this Private Members' motion on issue of child maintenance. The issues regarding maintenance are generally a matter for the Minister for Justice and Equality, who has responsibility for the family law Acts, which govern maintenance requirements. Existing family law Acts place a legal obligation on parents to maintain their children. In cases where the family unit has broken down, these obligations continue to apply. Relevant maintenance payments can be arranged either directly between the parties or with the assistance of supports from the Department of Justice and Equality, such as the family mediation service and the Legal Aid Board or, ultimately, through the courts. The enforcement of the obligation on parents to maintain their children is a matter for the Department of Justice and Equality.

The social welfare Acts provide that where certain welfare payments are in place, specifically one-parent family payment, OFP, an assessment may be made against a liable relative requiring him or her to make a contribution towards the cost of the one-parent family payment. In every case where one-parent family payment is awarded, the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection seeks to trace the other parent or liable relative to ascertain whether he or she is in a financial position to contribute towards the cost of the payment. All liable relatives who are assessed for the maintenance liability are issued with a maintenance contribution assessment setting out the amount assessed. The amount assessed can be reviewed where new information comes to light regarding the financial or household circumstances of the liable relative. The liable relative can either commence or increase the current payment to a one-parent family payment recipient or can make the contribution directly to the Department. Decisions on the amount assessed can be appealed to the social welfare appeals office. The liable relative provisions cease once the youngest child reaches seven years of age and the one-parent family payment claim ceases. However, the legal obligation under the family law Acts to maintain children does not cease.

Lone parents have consistently been one of the most vulnerable groups in Ireland, a point made earlier, which I accept. Even during the period of high economic growth and employment, the rate of consistent poverty for lone parents remained very high in comparison with two-parent families. The 2013 survey of income and living conditions, SILC, data show that the consistent poverty rate for lone parent households was 20.7% compared with 3.9% for two-parent households. The current policy approach for supporting lone parents through the one-parent family payment and jobseeker's transitional scheme is to provide tapered income supports as children get older while at the same time increasing the employment and educational supports that the Department offers.

A recent analysis by the Central Statistics Office, CSO, of differing household types shows that the employment rate of lone parents is increasing steadily as the economy grows, but it also shows that the gap between coupled and lone mothers' employment rates remains relatively large. The employment rate of female lone parents increased from 48.5% in quarter 2 of 2012 to 60% in quarter 2 of 2018. This is a positive development but there is evidence that the rate of in-work poverty among lone parent households is high in comparison with coupled families.

The Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection operates three schemes to support lone parents, namely, the one-parent family payment scheme, the jobseeker's transitional scheme, and the jobseeker's allowance. The appropriate scheme that a lone parent can avail of is generally determined by the age of the youngest child claimed for, subject to eligibility requirements. One-parent family payment is available where the youngest child is aged under seven, while jobseeker's transitional payment may be claimed where the youngest child is aged between seven and 13 years of age, inclusive. Once the youngest child reaches 14, standard jobseeker's allowance applies.

This progression from one-parent family payment to jobseeker's transitional payment to jobseeker's allowance was a fundamental element of the reforms of the one-parent family payment scheme undertaken since 2011, as until then income support for lone parents was passive in nature and involved limited engagement by the Stale with lone parents. One-parent family payment was originally available until the youngest child was 18. The non-conditional nature of the one-parent family payment coupled with its very long duration had over time engendered long-term social welfare dependency and associated poverty among many lone parents and their children. Research has shown that being at work reduces the at-risk of poverty rate for lone parents by more than half.

The purpose of the one-parent family payment scheme reforms is to maximise the opportunities for lone parents to enter into and increase employment by providing them with enhanced access to a wide range of education, training and employment supports that make up the Department's Intreo services. In 2004, at the height of the economic boom, lone parents were over four-and-a-half times more at risk of poverty than the rest of the population. In 2017, the latest available SILC data show a significant improvement, although lone parents are still almost two-and-a-half times more at risk of poverty than the rest of the population.

It is important to take this opportunity to set out the range of measures put in place by the Government to support children and their and families, including lone parents, in budget 2020. There are not cuts in social welfare payments. These supports include payment of a 100% Christmas bonus in December 2019 to recipients of long-term social welfare payments, including one-parent family payment; extension of the hot school meals scheme from September 2020 to 35,000 additional schoolchildren; a €3 increase for qualified child dependants aged 12 and over in all weekly payments; a €2 increase for qualified child dependants up the age of 12 in all weekly payments; an increase in the working family payment threshold by €10 per week for families with one, two or three children, benefiting 55,000 families at a cost of €19 million from January 2020; and increases in the earnings disregard for working lone parents in receipt of the one-parent family payment or jobseeker's transitional payment by €15 to €165 per week from January 2020, benefiting 16,900 families.

There are a wide range of supports for children and families, including lone parent families, across other Departments and beyond the social welfare system. Extra funding of €54 million has been allocated to child care services for the introduction of the national childcare scheme to meet the continuing cost of the early childhood care and education, ECCE, programme, to fund the access and inclusion model, and to support the introduction of a sectoral employment order setting the statutory minimum pay and conditions in the childcare sector. The maximum hours under the national childcare scheme for preschool children will increase from 40 to 45 hours per week for working parents and from 15 to 20 hours per week for low-income parents not working or studying. The maximum hours for school-aged childcare for low-income parents who return to work will increase from 17 to 22 hours per week with effect from September 2020. Additional funding of €29 million is allocated to Tusla to continue its work to reduce the number of children awaiting the allocation of a social worker and to address costs pressures in residential and foster care.

The Government also plans to extend free GP care to children under the age of eight and to provide free dental care for children under six with effect from September 2020. Stakeholders have highlighted that child maintenance poses serious personal and administrative blocks within the social protection and legal systems.

Delays in legal proceedings due to cycles of agreement, default and pursuits clog up the Courts Service and cause unnecessary delays and hardships for the parents and their children. I accept that argument. Requirements for seeking maintenance and liable relative provisions may also cause issues between the parents over and above the difficulties and hardships they already face. The Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection shares some of the concerns, as do I, expressed by stakeholder groups about how the maintenance system currently operates and she believes that it is timely to review these arrangements to see what can be learned from international best practice. The Minister has already held meetings with some of the stakeholder groups and will continue to engage with them on this matter in the future.

As part of budget 2020, €150,000 has been allocated to the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection to examine international best practice in respect of maintenance payments by liable relatives and how Ireland can achieve better outcomes in a proactive manner for families. The Minister is currently making arrangements to establish a judge-led group to progress that work as a priority. The Government is taking on board the concerns of the stakeholder groups regarding child maintenance and the wider issues for lone parents. The motion before the House does not give sufficient recognition to the substantial work already done to support lone parents and the significant commitments set out as part of budget 2020, nor does it recognise that the Minister is already consulting with stakeholder groups and has secured funding to undertake research in this area as part of a judge-led group.

No one party has a monopoly on caring about remedying the challenges regarding maintenance and my colleague, the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, has already moved to find effective solutions. On that basis we will not be opposing the motion, we will be abstaining.

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