Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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33. To ask the Minister for Social Protection to publish the report by a person (details supplied) on the impact on one-parent families of the changes to the one-parent family payment scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11768/16]

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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35. To ask the Minister for Social Protection when he will publish the report his Department commissioned and which was prepared by a person (details supplied), given that it was due to be published by August 2015; the reason for the delay; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11752/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 33 and 35 together.

Research on activation measures for lone parents was commissioned at the request of my Department through the Irish Research Council, IRC, in 2014. The theme suggested by my Department was how best to engage and support lone parents from an activation perspective. The IRC sought expressions of interest from relevant academics to carry out independent research on this theme. Following the IRC tender process, a proposal put forward by Dr. Michelle Millar of NUI Galway was successful. The topic of Dr. Millar’s research is Lone Parents and Activation, What Works and Why: A Review of the International Evidence in the Irish Context. It is not an impact assessment of the reforms to the one-parent family payment and is not intended to be. The aim of this research is to identify best practice and innovation for activation, nationally and internationally, that creates good outcomes for lone parents. The report was tasked with recommending responsive and appropriate measures in the Irish context.

There has been ongoing engagement between my officials and Dr. Millar on her research. The first draft report was shared by Dr. Millar in September 2015. A second draft was forwarded earlier this year and I understand that there was an initial delay in responding because of staff changes within the Department. My officials will shortly provide feedback to Dr. Millar on the latest draft. Research shows that being at work reduces the at risk of poverty rate for lone parents by three quarters compared with those who do not work. The reforms to the one-parent family payment were introduced to reduce long-term social welfare dependency and enhance access to the Department’s Intreo service to lone parents, which is essential in facilitating their progression into employment. The Department will work with Dr. Millar on this research, including future publications by her. It is intended that this research will inform how best to engage with lone parents and the future design of education, training and employment support programmes aimed specifically at improving outcomes for lone parents and one-parent families.

Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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I want to remind the House of what the Minister's predecessor, Deputy Joan Burton, said in the Dáil on 18 April 2012 on changes to the lone parent allowance:

[S]even is too young for anyone to seriously contemplate any of these things without there being a system of safe, affordable and accessible child care in place, similar to what is found in the Scandinavian countries whose systems of social protection we aspire to. That is why I am undertaking tonight that I will only proceed with the measure to reduce the upper age limit to seven years in the event that I get a credible and bankable commitment on the delivery of such a system of child care by the time of this year's budget.

That was in April 2012 but we have seen no Scandinavian child care system put in place in the interim. Somebody said the nearest one would get to a Scandinavian child care system in this country is the car park in Ikea. The Minister said that the Millar report will not be a study on the financial impact of the changes for lone parents, particularly working lone parents who are cruelly penalised as a result of these changes. Will the Minister commission such an impact statement, which would be very relevant and which we would all love to see?

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The Minister talks about these measures aimed at reducing poverty outcomes in families and the measures to support lone parents, but all of the measures introduced by the previous Minister, Deputy Joan Burton, show that poverty increased in the families of lone parents. I will not read out the statistics here but what is absolutely clear is that the measures to activate employment for lone parents forced more of them out of employment. When one talks about reducing poverty, one has to look at it in a holistic way and look at the provision of child care and housing supports in particular. Housing is in a massive crisis and rents are soaring through the roof. Tomorrow, there will be a strike in Tesco nationally which is the type of low-paid job that many lone parents are being forced into. They are forced to seek more hours in those kinds of jobs which pay very badly. There is no point of talking about pushing lone parents into work and out of poverty unless one looks holistically at the sort of supports that are put in place for them, including child care, housing and the rate of pay they can expect to get in employment, including the low level of the minimum wage at the moment.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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On Dr. Millar's report, I have not seen any of the drafts yet but it is definitely not an impact assessment. That is not what was commissioned. It is supposed to be advice on best practice and best examples from other countries. That is the work that was asked for.

I recall Deputy Burton's comments but not exactly the time they were made. It was perhaps before the jobseeker's transitional payment came in, which is for lone parents whose youngest child is between seven and 14. It does not require that they be in full-time work. Part-time work or education is enough. It is accepted it is only when the youngest child is 14 or older that it is expected that lone parents take up full-time work. When it comes to Nordic and Scandinavian countries such as Denmark, which are the models I am most interested in, activation starts much younger. It starts at two or three, which is impossible in Ireland given the cost and lack of availability of child care. I absolutely agree with Deputy Bríd Smith's point that one must look at it holistically and take into account child care pay rates and housing supports if we are serious about getting people off welfare and into work, but these things should not be used as an excuse to do nothing ever.

Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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The statistics that Deputy Smith adverted to are very simple. The latest figures show that 22%, which is more than one in five, of children of lone parents are living in permanent poverty. It also shows that almost 60% of children of lone parents, which is three out of five, are suffering deprivation. They are deprived of some of the things that make up a decent standard of living. All the experience, both anecdotal and otherwise, shows us that the net effect of the changes introduced by the former Minister, Deputy Joan Burton, is that lone parents, especially working lone parents, are worse off so there is a direct link between the rising rate of child poverty among lone parents and these changes. Will the Minister do a financial impact study? A number of organisations, such as SPARK, have done very good financial impact studies that show the impact of those changes. What is the rationale? His predecessor said it was to get more lone parents out to work. How does one get more people out to work by ensuring that when they go out to work, they will get less income?

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Prior to the measures taken by the previous Minister, Deputy Joan Burton, in 2012, 60% of lone parents were in some form of employment, but not necessarily full-time employment. By 2014, that figure had dropped to 36%, precisely because it was costing lone parents more to go out to work than to stay at home and be lone parents in the home. The measures taken by the previous Minister did not fit the bill for what is required. When we talk about equality proofing in the budget, we will need equality proofing on the programme for Government, because the programme talks about a new work and family payment. We have gone from the one-parent family payment to a new payment which includes being able to collect family income support, and now in the programme the Minister is talking about changing that again to a working family payment.

What we are arguing here is that he should not even dare to move to that until Dr. Millar's report is published and we have a chance to examine its findings. The Minister said they are not about comparisons and that that is not an excuse to do nothing, but it certainly is not an excuse to make the same mistake again and drive more lone parents, and their children, further into poverty. As the statistics show, one in five children of lone parents live in chronic poverty.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Thank you, Deputy.

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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We are asking the Minister not to do anything in terms of a new payment until the Millar report is published. We want to have a chance to study that report and consider the best methods of paying and supporting lone parents.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I repeat that the report, the draft of which I have not seen, is not supposed to be an impact assessment. That is not what was commissioned and that is not its title. The report will be published in due course. One of the best aspects of the Department of Social Protection is that we have so many statistics in this area and there has been so much academic study in these areas, albeit, in some cases, from the point of view of a particular ideology. None the less, it should be taken into account and listened to. I wish I had had access to such statistics in the Department of Health, because it would have been easier to make informed decisions, but the Deputy has to understand how these statistics are collated. It is interesting to see how they are collated, how things are measured and how the way something is measured can give-----

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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We all know that lone parents are in deeper poverty now than they were before these measures were brought in.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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-----a totally different answer. If the Deputy wants to talk about statistics, the most recent we have are from the Survey of Income Living Conditions, SILC.

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Talk to the lone parents about the statistics. The reality is that they are in deeper poverty.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Minister, your time is up.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I would like to answer these questions, but you know how it is.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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It would have been useful if you were not interrupted.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I know.