Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Fianna Fáil will be supporting this motion. I thank Deputy Brady for bringing it forward and for giving us the opportunity to speak on it. It is one of those issues that sometimes does not get enough attention and is not highlighted enough. I thank Deputy O'Dea for sharing his time with me.

I would have liked to heard the Minister of State's response had it not been scripted by the Department. His clinic can be no different from mine. Surely single parents come into him on a regular basis telling him how difficult it is, how a maintenance order has not gone through, how a standing order was missed the previous Friday or where someone cannot get their partner into court, where there is a backlog, and that they need to go through the clerical system and to fill out the standing order form once again.

I worked in a bank for 25 years. People came in on a weekly basis to check to see if the standing order had gone in, and they were the lucky ones who had a maintenance agreement in place. They waited for it and then had to wait another six weeks for it to catch up. It was a vicious circle for these women who I met in my professional career as a banker. Since I have become a politician, I meet them regularly. They are totally and utterly frustrated at how they are tied up in the system.

I will correct the Minister of State on a number of points, which I do not like doing, and I will refer to his contribution as Fianna Fáil spokesperson for children and youth affairs. Of course, there are a wide range of support for children and families, including lone-parent families, across Government and beyond social welfare. Some €54 million was allocated to childcare. The Minister of State talked about the access and inclusion models, AIMs, and the sectoral employment order. We have only 5,000 registered members in childcare. We are a long way from having what is required to have that sectoral employment order. Believe it or not, many of those women working in childcare are on the basic minimum wage. We are struggling very hard to keep them in employment.

The Minister of State talked about the new affordable childcare scheme. The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs was in the House earlier and myself and the Deputy Funchion asked how lone parents would fare under the new affordable childcare scheme. The new affordable childcare scheme has changed for this cohort of women. Currently, they can have 40 hours of childcare. When the new arrangement comes in, they will be brought back to 15 hours. This is what those women who want to return to employment or into education face. The change in the budget was from 15 to 20 hours. That is the extension that has been granted.

It will really hit the lone parent in respect of after-school sector. Until now, it was €15 per week but now it will be €45. However, the cost for most after-schools is between €120 and €150. These lone parents feel they will be forced out of that sector completely and will be trapped in a social welfare existence because of all the wonderful things the Minister of State said in respect of supports for the lone parent. These are the facts as to what the affordable childcare model is about and the sectoral employment order for the childcare worker.

The One Family study earlier this year found that 58% of parents are forced to go to court to secure child maintenance. The same study also found that in 91% of cases a child's need was required to determine the amount paid. It is important to remember the child is at the centre of this motion. Regardless of the family structure in place, it is unfair to children to be robbed of their childhood due to conflict between parents. Such a service would help provide families with stability. These families are often the most vulnerable, as all speakers said.

Last year One Family noted that children living in one-parent families are living in the most socially and financially deprived homes in Ireland.

Lone parents have the highest rate of consistent poverty, the lowest disposable income and the highest rate of deprivation. The 2017 UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women found that Ireland should consider establishing a statutory authority and prescribing amounts for child maintenance in order to reduce the burden on women of having to litigate to seek child maintenance orders.

Our court system is already overburdened, yet we force parents through what can be costly exercises to ensure they can get by and are not forced into poverty and homelessness. Without any statutory footing, it is at the court's discretion what shape the payments take. This leaves parents in a very precarious position. This is all avoidable. Having an agency on a statutory footing would prevent additional strain on courts in addition to ensuring lone parents receive payments they deserve.

Following the introduction of the compliance-related child maintenance payment in the UK, there was a 30% reduction in the poverty gap. We could have similar results here if our Government were serious about establishing a child maintenance service. Cuts introduced by Fine Gael and the Labour Party in budget 2012 saw lone parents hit. This was when the parties reformed the one-parent family payment. This has fed into an already dire situation for lone parents and it is creating more instability.

If the Government supported this proposal rather than abstaining, it would show real intent to support lone parents. While the Minister of State gave a rehash of the budget speech, which is welcome, what we really want to see is the establishment of the agency and serious intent from the other side of the House.

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