Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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1. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if she will reverse the changes made to the one-parent family payment given the data in the Survey on Income and Living Conditions which show those living in households with one adult and one or more children had the highest deprivation rate, at 58.7%, in 2014; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1190/16]

Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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Before dealing with the question, I take the opportunity to extend my congratulations to the newly appointed Clerk of the Dáil, as announced by the Ceann Comhairle.

My question refers to a recent survey which shows poverty is endemic among single parents. In view of the startling figures set out in the report, particularly in respect of the deprivation rate, is the Tánaiste prepared to reverse the changes she made recently to the lone parent's allowance?

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I extend my congratulations to the new Clerk of the Dáil, Mr. Peter Finnegan, and wish him well in the job.

In budget 2016, I introduced a number of measures that benefit lone parents. These include a 75% Christmas bonus, which equates to a payment of just over €163 for a lone parent with one child. Lone parents will benefit from the €5 increase in the monthly rate of child benefit and those in receipt of the family income supplement will also benefit from the increases to the thresholds for that scheme. Lone parents in receipt of fuel allowance gain an increase of €2.50 per week during the fuel season.

Lone parents on the jobseeker’s transitional payment also gained an increase in overall income from the closer alignment of this means test with the more generous one-parent family payment means test. An extra €3 million is also being provided for the school meals scheme. It is important to highlight that the social impact assessment of budget 2016 showed that budgetary policy would increase average household incomes for working lone parents by 2%. Non-earning lone parents also fared above average, gaining 1.8%.

The most recent survey on income and living conditions relates to 2014 and is based on income data from 2013 and 2014. In 2004, during the economic boom, lone parents were over four and a half times more at risk of poverty than the rest of the population. In 2014, they were two and a half times more at risk of poverty than the rest of the population.

Research shows that being at work reduces the at-risk-of-poverty rate for lone parents by three quarters, compared to lone parents not at work, highlighting that the best way to tackle poverty among lone parents is to assist them into employment. Access to the Department’s Intreo service is critical to achieve this outcome. Any reversal of these reforms would delay access to this essential service and would be a backward step in terms of tackling poverty among lone parents. The positive outcome of the reforms can be seen in the increase in the number of lone parents becoming new family income supplement recipients. Of the lone parents affected by the reforms in July 2015, more than 3,000 became new family income supplement recipients by the end of 2015.

Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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Saying lone parents are now only two and a half times at greater risk of poverty, compared to four and a half times at some point in the past, is quite irrelevant. This report is bald and it is brutal. It states that of all groups in society, the group that suffered the highest consistent rate of poverty in 2014 was lone parents, at a rate of 22.1%. It found those living in households with one adult and one or more children, that is, lone parents, had the highest deprivation rate, at 58.7% in 2014. It found single parents had the highest at-risk-of-poverty rate, of 32%, in 2014. There were a number of other interesting findings about their ownership of property, such as the fact that 42.1% of lone parent households are credit-constrained. As I understand it, the gist of the Minister's reply is that she is taking measures that will enable lone parents to improve their situation relative to the rest of society. I agree with the statement that the best way to assist somebody in poverty is to assist them into work, but they are all worse off now, so how do we encourage people to take up a job by ensuring they will be less well off than before by taking up that job? This is what we were warned about and what I have discussed with lone parents who have transferred over to the Minister's new system since,

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Deputy O'Dea quoted the 58% deprivation rate for lone parents in 2014. That is down from 63% in the previous survey.

Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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Is it acceptable?

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The figure the Deputy quoted is a drop from what was there previously-----

Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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Yes, before the change.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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-----because in fact we are putting extra resources into lone parents and we are particularly providing for the family income supplement, which means that where a lone parent goes to work, they are getting a top-up in respect of each of their children.

Second, in 2015 I brought in the back to work family dividend, which means a lone parent holds on to their €29.80 per week in terms of the weekly social welfare payment for their child, 100% in the first year they go back to work and 50% in the second year they are back at work. I chose the year 2004 because Deputy O'Dea was in government then, as far as I remember, and his Government was in a boom period.

My point is that under Fianna Fáil lone parents were at a risk of poverty that was four and a half times greater than the rest of the population. In recent years this rate has fallen, and their risk of poverty is now two and a half greater than the rest of the population, because we provided a wrap-around system of incentives for lone parents to go back to work. Also, this year, lone parents who are on the transitional payment and working on the minimum wage for only 15 hours a week will see an increase in their overall income of €28 per week, made up of the increase in the minimum wage plus the other supports.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I will come back to the Tánaiste. I must call Deputy O'Dea.

Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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I really do not know what planet the Tánaiste is living on. I consulted the lone parents' organisations when I tabled this question, and I spoke to a number of lone parents in my constituency. I can send the details on to the Minister. Every one of them, without exception, is worse off. I refer to lone parents with children between the ages of seven and 14 who have moved on to the transitional jobseeker's allowance-----

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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No. They are better off.

Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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-----whereas they were on lone parent allowance previously. They are not all imagining it. They are not all coming to me presenting false documentation. I can send the Tánaiste the details of various instances. I promise I will send them over to her. Lone parents are worse off. There is a different means test and it is less attractive to go out to work. That is the reality.

How is it making it more attractive for people to go out to work if they will be earning less than they were previously? How is the Tánaiste making it more attractive by bringing in a different means test that will ensure they earn less?

The Tánaiste can talk about the family dividend, the family income supplement and so on, but the my figures, and the examples I can send her, take all those matters into account. One must remember - and the Tánaiste did not say this, of course - that the family dividend is only a temporary provision. One gets 100% the first year and 50% the second year.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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The Tánaiste to conclude.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Let me repeat the official figures. A lone parent on the jobseeker's transitional payment working 15 hours at the national minimum wage will see an increase this month in his or her overall income of just over €28 per week. Deputy O'Dea is complaining that they will see an increase in their income of €1,450 per annum.

Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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How much will the employer be paying?

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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This is as a result of the increase in the national minimum wage, which-----

Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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Which the employer is paying?

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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The Tánaiste has the floor.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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-----Fianna Fáil, in its wisdom, cut by €1 an hour and which I have been happy to raise by €1 an hour and, on 1 January, by a further 50 cent an hour.

Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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When someone else is paying for it. By how much did the Tánaiste raise the other one?

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Deputy O'Dea's record is, let us say, not the most shining given that 330,000 jobs were lost on his watch.

Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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The Tánaiste will be judged on her record shortly.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The increases we are talking about are as a result of the increase in the minimum wage, the more generous means test on the jobseeker's transitional payment and the increase in fuel allowance of €2.50 a week.

Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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The Tánaiste is kidding nobody.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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But these are all facts.

Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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The lone parents are not fooled.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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We must go on to the next question.

Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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They are not fooled, and I will send the Tánaiste their comments and a few of the examples.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy Ó Snodaigh has the next Priority Question. I want order, please.