Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister and I welcome getting some degree of insight to the report. In her next response I ask the Minister to give an estimated date for publication of the report. Would it be before summer, for example? It would be helpful if we had some degree of knowledge of the timeline. We both agree that it is abhorrent that lone parents and their children continue to be one of the groups that is among the most, if not the most, at risk of experiencing poverty in Ireland. Despite this we continue to see child maintenance as a private matter. Data from the Growing Up in Ireland survey shows that: 50% of non-resident parents provide no maintenance payments; 30% regularly pay maintenance; and 14% pay maintenance on a required basis. The system of having to rely on the courts for pursuing maintenance also adds unnecessary stress and makes seeking maintenance an adversarial pursuit by default. For parents who go to court the award of maintenance for the court varies vastly. In a recent survey published by Spark, 154 respondents showed the average court award per child was €53.93 and down as low as €3.85 per child. Will this be factored into the Minister’s report? Can she give us some indication of the date when we will see it please?

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