John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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Question 77: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, further to his comments in a newspaper (details supplied), his plans to replace the one-parent family payment with a more family friendly child benefit support scheme; when this new support scheme will be put in place; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11911/05]

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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Question 114: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if he is considering the publication of a Green Paper on lone parents; if so when the paper is likely to be published; if he intends to consult interested groups prior to the publication of any such paper; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11829/05]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Question 134: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if he will expand on his proposals for a holistic scheme to help single parents go back to work as set out in his interview with a newspaper (details supplied) of 27 March 2005; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11827/05]

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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Question 137: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if he has plans to meet the specific child care requirements of single parents; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11830/05]

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Question 144: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the progress made to date with regard to the consideration by the sub-group of the Cabinet committee on social inclusion dealing with matters relating to lone parents, particularly in regard to obstacles to employment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11826/05]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Question 155: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs his proposals for the replacement of the current lone parent's allowance with a family friendly child benefit scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11831/05]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 77, 114, 134, 137, 144 and 155 together.

For people in working age households, the main route out of poverty is employment. Despite the great increases in employment participation in Ireland in recent years and in opportunities generally, the proportion of lone parents in employment is low compared with other developed countries. This was borne out by a recent report on reconciling work and family life which found that employment participation among lone parents in this country is among the lowest in the OECD. This is despite the large employment growth and increasing female participation in the workforce in recent years and the income disregards afforded to lone parents under the one-parent family payment, who take up employment.

The results of the EU survey on income and living conditions for 2003 indicates that more than 42% of adults and children living in lone parent households were in the "at risk of poverty" category. Lone parents are especially vulnerable as they must combine the roles of both care giver and main income provider. Many lone parents, especially those who become parents at an early age, are also disadvantaged by low levels of educational attainment. One of the key tasks in the ending child poverty initiative is to address obstacles to employment for many lone parents. The senior officials group on social inclusion has been mandated to examine this issue and report back to the Cabinet committee on social inclusion with specific proposals.

A steering group, comprising officials in the Departments of the Taoiseach and Finance as well as the office for social inclusion in my Department, has been established to progress the work. Other relevant Departments and agencies are preparing material and briefing the group on the areas for which they have responsibility. The group meets on a fortnightly basis and will present its report to the full senior officials group on social inclusion by mid-year. Following any amendments, a report will be presented to the Cabinet committee on social inclusion before the end of July. Specific policy areas are being examined to assess how they impact on employment opportunities and family circumstances. These include income supports, employment, education, child care, support programmes and information.

A separate working group has been set up in the Department to review the income support arrangements for lone parents. This review will feed into the work of the steering group. Special account will be taken of the findings of a report which the National Economic and Social Council has been commissioned to prepare, under Sustaining Progress, on the possible merging of the child dependant allowance with the family income supplement. Other countries have had to address similar challenges in assisting lone parents achieve self-sufficiency and a better standard of living for themselves and their children through employment. The effectiveness of the measures taken and the outcomes have been analysed in the international OECD study in which Ireland has participated. The findings of this study are also being taken into account in the review of the provisions for lone parents.

It is my intention that the outcome of this process will be the introduction of more active and effective supports for lone parents which will help them achieve the necessary educational opportunities, employment, a better standard of living and a better future for themselves and their children. The effectiveness of the current income support arrangements, including the one-parent family payment scheme, in promoting and facilitating these objectives will be a key element of the review.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister for his response. Does he suffer from a sense of déjÀ vu? All that work was done in 2001 by the National Economic and Social Forum. Is the Minister taking account the findings in that report, which was very good, but which has gathered dust since?

The Minister speaks of combining the CDA and FIS. The CDA is a payment for people who are unemployed and FIS is for people who are employed, so how can he combine the two? Has he considered that?

Can he set himself an objective or deadline as to when he expects to see this new super family-friendly child benefit scheme in action which he keeps telling the press about? Does he foresee it being announced in the next budget or will it be the budget after that? It will probably take a budget to bring in measures such as this or else a Social Welfare Bill. Will the Minster say whether it is his objective to have this announced as part of the forthcoming budget at the end of the year? If that is the case, it is somewhat like the schoolboy throwing the sack over the ditch. It means the Minister will have to follow and we will try to ensure that he does. In summary, has the Minister taken into account the NESF report of 2001 which has covered this ground already, how will he amalgamate CDA and FIS and when does he expect to see this happening?

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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This is one report of which I have taken account. It has not covered everything. If it had, I would simply be able to implement it. It rehearses many of the main issues and suggests certain directions in which to proceed. However, there is much small print to be worked out.

As I indicated to the Deputy, the group meets on a fortnightly basis and will send its report to the full senior officials group on social inclusion by mid-year. That will lead to a report to the Cabinet by the end of July. That is the timescale by which I am working.

As for the amalgamation of CDA and FIS, as the Deputy knows, the NESC has had one of its top experts working on this for some time. I hope to get its final thinking in this regard within a few weeks. The CDA is a payment attached to unemployment, but what it has in common with FIS is that, in general, they are both paid to low income families. For this reason, in terms of payment, whether someone is on a low income because he or she is on benefit or in low-paid employment does not matter much to the children concerned. We are anxious to see whether those two payments may successfully be pulled together so that they are targeted specifically at children who are deemed to be at risk of poverty. That is the job in hand. The NESC is working at it diligently. As soon as I have something specific that may be implemented, I will take it to Cabinet without delay.

Willie Penrose (Westmeath, Labour)
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This is a complex and difficult area which will have to be teased out considerably. One parent families make up approximately 12% of households and tend to face higher risks of poverty than their two-parent counterparts. The EU survey on income and living conditions, released in January 2005, indicated that 33% of one parent families live in consistent poverty in comparison to 9% of the overall population while up to 42% are at risk of poverty compared to 23% of the overall population. One parent families have the highest levels of the eight deprivation factors.

Will the Minister agree the main issue for one parent families, particularly those with young children, is access to the labour market? This relates to the lack of availability of part-time or flexible employment and access to education, to assist one parent families. Is this not an ideal opportunity to have a major strategic input into the policy area to help people living in poverty? Deputy Stanton referred to the 2001 NESF report, and the one size fits all argument. Geoffrey Shannon's big legal tome on the issue must be remembered. As policy changes will engineer changes in this area, who will have an input in the review group? Will it be officials only? Will proposals be brought before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Social and Family Affairs?

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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I will be happy to discuss the review group's proposals with the committee at the appropriate time. I found discussions with the committee to be useful in the past. Deputy Penrose is correct that this is a complex area. When removing poverty traps and attempting to build incentives, one has to be careful not to create other poverty traps. That has bedevilled the system for some time.

I am impressed with what is happening in other jurisdictions, where intervention is tailored to the individual circumstances of the person. In the UK, discussions and counselling on a holistic basis are being held for individual lone parents. The UK has found the more engagement involved, the more people helped back into education and employment. Ireland has a similar experience, with intervention in long-term unemployment cases where numbers were greatly reduced. I have asked the Department to see how a similar mechanism for lone parents can be introduced. I am aware there are approximately 80,000 lone parents and I hope the Department can give them individual attention and advice as to how they can best access employment and education through the myriad of schemes available.

Disregards are still available. For example, a lone parent can earn up to €146.50 per week without his or her benefits being affected. Earnings above this limit are assessed at 50% up to a maximum of €293. There are transitional arrangements in place where a lone parent who exceeds the earnings threshold may retain 50% of his or her payment for a further six months. The review group is specifically looking at removing barriers to employment. I hope the group will reach its conclusions within the timescale given as these are important issues.

Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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I am surprised that Question No. 162 which refers to the Minister's proposals on family income supplement and child benefit is not included in this grouping. I assume a more detailed answer will be available in the written replies.

Will the Minister agree that in reviewing supports for one parent families, it cannot be a case of reinventing the wheel? Not only are reports from bodies such as NESF available, there are also policy position papers from non-governmental organisations, such as the group, One Family. The Department of Social and Family Affairs must react to such proposals when put in the public arena, rather than developing a new bureaucratic review by which results will come out in a Delphic way in a year. We are aware of the problems and their potential solutions. What is required is the appropriate will to respond to them in the quickest possible time.

The Government allocates different departmental and ministerial responsibilities. Why is child care under the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and not under the remit of the Department of Social and Family Affairs? That is why there is much confusion over what resources are available and how they can be accessed. Until the Government is prepared to think in a joined-up way, many of the people reliant on these payments and resources continue to be left in an unnecessary grey area.

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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I acknowledge the excellent work of One Family and my Department has taken account of its submissions in the past. Localisation is well under way, with 19 local offices processing one parent family payment claims in an attempt to bring the individual closer to the service. That system will be fully rolled out to ensure all one parent payments are localised. There were also improvements in the budget. It is not fair to claim nothing is being done on this issue. An amount is happening, but as I said many times, we must continue to review the structure of these schemes to see how they can be improved. We have all concluded that the one parent family payment can have the effect of locking people into a certain situation. It must be made a more active payment that will encourage people into education and employment.

I accept the Deputy's point about child care as responsibilities in this area are spread over eight Departments. For example, the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government deals with housing issues, while the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform has substantial funds under the equality heading. My Department is involved in paying child benefit. Other Departments involved include the Department of Health and Children, with the provision of crèches. Some of this is unavoidable. However, the matter has been discussed at Cabinet and we will examine how best to tidy up these arrangements and bring more focus to the child care issue.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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The 2001 NESF report recommended family service workers be appointed by the Department of Social and Family Affairs to work with families in times of crisis. These are the counsellors referred to by the Minister. However, none of the report's proposals has been implemented. There seems to be no sense of urgency with regard to the 90,000 children living in poverty. While the Minister has established a new review group, 90,000 children live in consistent poverty. How will the Minister deal with that now?

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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I am not referring to service officers but attempting to devise a system whereby we can intervene individually with lone parents. The NESF report concentrated on the broader family services. There is an action programme for combating child poverty. On a broad level, higher employment obviously helps because employment is the key to dealing with this. We have increased child benefit substantially in recent years.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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It is not working.

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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It has been increased substantially and total welfare payments have doubled in five or six years.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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They are still out there.

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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As I have stated many times, welfare payments take a third of the State's budget.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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There are 90,000 of them.

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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Substantial funds are going to low-income families. However, I accept the Deputy's point. Despite the expenditure, there are too many children at risk of poverty, regardless of whether the figure is the 66,000 quoted in one study or the 120,000 quoted in another. That is the reason we are trying to design something that will target them. All the reports, however, indicate that there is a problem with identification, location and trying to focus on them rather than on a wide area and, thus, spreading our resources too thinly.

The amalgamation of the two allowances is one step but it is not the only one. Poverty is tackled across the board in a number of ways by the Department of Health and Children, the Department of Finance, the Department of Social and Family Affairs and the Department of Education and Science, which has a major role. There is no single solution to poverty, even child poverty. It is a multi-faceted programme that calls for joined up Government. That is what I am fighting to achieve.