Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There is an issue where once the child turns seven years, the contribution that is sometimes made towards the one-parent family payment ceases. There is a cliff edge when the youngest child turns seven years and the parent moves onto the jobseeker's transitional payment. A letter is issued by the Department to the non-custodial parent telling them that the one-parent family payment has now ceased. In some cases, that means that people stop making the contribution. In order to receive jobseeker's transitional payment in the first place, a lone parent must prove that they have sought maintenance. In some instances, this forces lone parents into court. We know that this happens from the lone parent organisations SPARK and One Family, which have raised this issue many times. All I seek is that we would stop forcing lone parents into court by allowing the liable relatives unit to continue to seek that contribution when the lone parent moves on to jobseeker's transitional payment.

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