Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We are absolutely on the one page on this; I agree with the Deputy. There is nothing worse than what she has described. I saw the problem myself when I worked in the credit union and, indeed, the bank. Whenever a lone parent, who was usually a woman, got a court order, it was a case of a payment being made one week and missed for the next couple, followed by another payment. It was terribly frustrating.

The work of the review group is important. It did ask for a bit of extra time. The matter is complex. A lot of work has been put into it. I look forward to receiving the report at Easter. I do not want to pre-empt what will be in the report but I want to work with the House to move this forward. There are different models in different countries, and it is a question of finding the best one that works well for us here. I am committed to doing that. I acknowledge the Deputy has a great interest in this also, as do many of the other female Members of the Oireachtas. In this regard, I got a copy of a long submission that one of the Senators made to the child maintenance review group. The matter is complex but I want to work on it.

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