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

I am delighted to see this legislation progress in the House today and I commend the Minister on making it happen. It is very important legislation that will make a real difference to the lives of lone parents and their families.

When I took up the role as the party's adviser on social protection back in 2016, I knew very little about lone parents and how they access or, in many cases, do not access child maintenance. The many changes to how the system works since then will make a difference. These are issues that very much remained with me, particularly the instances where lone parents go to court and how that can work out or, in many cases, not work out at all. Of course, we would all like to think we live in a world where both parents contribute financially to bringing up their child or children but, unfortunately, that is not the case. With that reality in mind, we have to do everything we can to support lone parents and their families, particularly when it comes to income and financial supports through the social protection system. That can be done. The changes that have been made in this legislation will make a difference and will support lone parents an awful lot better.

This has been a long time coming. I have raised the issue of maintenance being treated as household means and how wrong that is many times in this House since I was elected. It was never right to treat maintenance as a type of household income coming into the house. It should always be the case that maintenance is for bringing up and supporting a child or children as they grow up. It was also the case that even where lone parents ended up going to court and a maintenance order was determined by the judge of the day in that court, it did not necessarily mean that maintenance was actually paid.

Once it was court-ordered, however, it was listed as maintenance for the social protection system. Whether it was paid or not, it was deducted and the lone parent's income support was reduced. On the one hand, lone parents were obliged to prove they sought maintenance, and some had to do that through the courts, while, on the other hand, they were risking having maintenance ordered but not paid and their payment being reduced. They were therefore being punished financially, one way or the other, in some cases.

The Minister will also know that I was critical of the liable relative’s clause. The system did not work. The figures speak for themselves. I found it concerning that the Department did whatever it took to recoup its costs. If the same effort was made when seeking maintenance in the first place, it would have been far more beneficial for lone parents and their families.

I ask that the measures announced today - I know the legislation has not yet been signed into law - be communicated as best as possible to lone-parent families, particularly through organisations such as SPARK, One Family Ireland and the new national alliance which do so much great work representing lone parents and their families. We need to communicate the message to lone parents who may be on a reduced payment that it may be increased. While the legislation is certainly a step in the right direction, we can and should do more.

While I understand there was no consensus on the review group, it did not necessarily disagree on establishing a child maintenance service. I have brought forward proposals on this matter three times. They are published and replicate to some degree the system in place in the North of Ireland. It is not just a system that collects maintenance but one that provides support and advice to lone parents. Some parents will not require assistance when it comes to agreeing maintenance. Others will require assistance when it comes to calculating what that maintenance should be. At the moment, when a case goes through the courts, the judge of the day will pick a figure out of the air. That is how maintenance is determined. One judge could determine it is €50 on one day and another judge down the country could say it should be €100. There is no mechanism for setting maintenance. I ask that further consideration be given to establishing such a service to provide advice and support to lone parents in making a calculation where agreement cannot be reached on the amount to be paid and, in some cases, to have the powers, via the Revenue Commissioners, to collect maintenance where it is not being paid. We know that in some cases maintenance is court-ordered or agreed and is not paid. It is the lone parent who then has to go back to court and the vicious circle starts again. It is always on the shoulders of the lone parents. That is not right.

I do not believe a service would cost an awful lot of money. There would be an increased cost at the beginning, perhaps similar to the set-up cost of the Residential Tenancies Board. After that, it will be money well spent on supporting lone-parent families. We know that lone-parent families rank very high under the three indicators of consistent poverty, at-risk of poverty and deprivation. Research has shown that where maintenance is paid, as opposed to ordered and agreed, it can play a part in reducing poverty. For that reason alone, further consideration should be given to the establishment of a child maintenance service. I ask that the Minister address this through another avenue. Now that the child maintenance review group has done its work and published its report, I ask that another mechanism be used to engage with the relevant organisations to see if this can happen.

I am glad to see the changes in this legislation, which will make a difference for parents. I commend the Minister in that regard. Today is a good day for lone-parent families but there is more to be done. A child maintenance service would have a greater impact than anything else that could be done to support lone parents by ensuring that both parents contribute in some way to raising their child or children. It is the best way to do that and to support lone-parent families.

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