Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I had hoped that this motion would encourage the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection to take action on child maintenance. It is unbelievable that the State is yet to establish a dedicated agency for child maintenance. The Government has made a big deal out of saying it will not oppose the motion. Is that not shockingly decent of it? It will be looking for a round of applause next. However, the fact that the Government is not supporting the motion speaks volumes. That we still do not have an agency is clear evidence of the Government's continued neglect and abandonment of people living in poverty, especially single women and their children. The system is inappropriate, ineffective and not fit for purpose. My colleague, Deputy John Brady, has a position paper on this matter and has made some excellent suggestions about how such an agency might operate. I respectfully suggest that the Minister take some time to read it.

There are more than 200,000 lone parent families in this State. Most of them are headed by women, as we know. The Minister, Deputy Doherty, spoke about the austerity cuts inflicted by Fine Gael and the Labour Party on lone parents in the previous Government. She should put her money where her mouth is and establish this agency. It would help many families who are living in poverty solely because a parent is shirking his or her responsibilities. Instead, she has announced research and guidelines on child maintenance in the budget. Only now, in 2019, has she said that she is starting to look into research on this. That speaks volumes. It is not anywhere near enough. We need a dedicated agency and this is the Minister's responsibility at the end of the day. Thousands of single parent families live in poverty. They depend on her and this Government to take action.

Lone parents are obliged to seek maintenance to receive the one-parent family payment or jobseeker's transitional payment. The current system in the courts is completely inappropriate. The Minister knows this but has continued to turn a blind eye to it. It is expensive, time-consuming and can be very difficult for families, especially in cases where separations were acrimonious or there have been issues with domestic abuse, but why should the Minister worry about that? It also does not guarantee that maintenance payments will actually be made. Many parents do not pay court-ordered maintenance and the liable relatives unit in the Department is totally ineffective. This is a really important issue and it is a pity that the Minister does not see the importance and urgency of it. I hope she will listen to our proposals and the solutions we are putting forward. I also hope she will take action to reform the child maintenance system in the immediate future, rather than continuing to put it on the long finger and turn a blind eye while so many families live in abject poverty.

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