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

The reforms will necessitate changes to some of my Department's systems, application forms and processes. I must make amendments to primary and secondary legislation. I am doing it on an administrative basis regarding the liable relative and the need to show proof you are seeking maintenance.

The Department needs to distinguish between child and spousal maintenance, something which is not done at the moment, so my officials are working on advancing the various implementation issues to ensure early implementation of the reforms. We are doing what we can on an administrative basis but in terms of the means test, we must go through that and bring forward legislation, which I want to do as quickly as possible. There are a few issues we need to look at because legislation is complex and we might need to make adjustments in a number of different places. I will come back to the Deputy regarding child maintenance.

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