Dáil debates

Wednesday, 17 January 2018

11:40 am

Photo of John BradyJohn Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

10. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection her views on the increase in the at risk of poverty rate among lone-parent families as highlighted in the recently published survey on income and living conditions for 2016; her plans to reduce this rate; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2061/18]

Photo of John BradyJohn Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Minister welcomed on a number of occasions the findings in the SILC report for 2016 but she omitted any reference to the 4% increase in children at risk of poverty in lone-parent families. Will the Minister comment on the increase, which is a substantial one at 4%?

Photo of Pat GallagherPat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Before we take the answer, Deputy O'Dea has raised with me his view that his Question No. 36 should have been grouped with this one but the Department decided otherwise. I will give Deputy O'Dea a supplementary.

Photo of Regina DohertyRegina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Is it the same question?

Photo of Pat GallagherPat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

It is Questions Nos. 10 and 36, but the Minister can handle it.

11:50 am

Photo of Regina DohertyRegina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I will reply to Question No. 10, and to Question No. 36.

The CSO Survey on Income and Living Conditions, SILC, for 2016 shows that for lone parent households, the consistent poverty rate is 24.6%, down from 26.2% in 2015 and the deprivation rate fell from 57.9% in 2015 to 50.1% in 2016. However, the Deputy is right; the at-risk-of-poverty rate increased from 36.2% in 2015 to 40.2% in 2016.

I hope we would all acknowledge that the best way to tackle poverty, particularly among lone parents, is helping them find a job. The recently published Indecon report shares this view. The report found that the changes to the one-parent family payment scheme made over the last number of years increased employment and reduced welfare dependency. It also found that the changes increased the probability of employment and higher employment income for lone parents. The report also concluded that assisting lone parents to enhance skills also needs to be seen as a key objective as low-paid employment, which is something none of us wants any of our people to aspire to, will not on its own ensure a reduction in the risk of poverty. What we want for people who do not have a job is a job, a better job and then a career. We need to ensure that the training and support services, particularly for lone parents who historically would not have been working in any real numbers, provide them with a career path so they can get decent paid employment and not just part-time minimum wage employment.

In 2017, further budget improvements were implemented and I have continued to emphasise improvements for lone parents in particular. I hope my Department's social impact assessments of all budgets for 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 are an indicator of this improvement. These show a cumulative increase of €36.75 in the average weekly household income of employed lone parents and €33.60 for unemployed lone parents. This compares favourably with a weekly increase of €34.45 for the average household.

Budget measures recently announced which will take effect from 29 March 2018, specifically the increases to the income disregard, the primary rate and the increase for qualified child rate, will see a lone parent on the one-parent family payment or jobseeker's transitional payment who is working 15 hours a week on the national minimum wage better off by nearly €1,000 per year.

Photo of John BradyJohn Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister's response. She put out a press statement after the publication of the SILC report and referred to it again this morning but she specifically left out any mention of lone parents because it is an increase and that goes against the narrative that everything is on the up. It certainly is not on the up for lone parents. A 4% increase in the at-risk-of-poverty rate is a huge increase and this is borne out in the Indecon report published last October so there is clearly a problem here that is not being addressed.

I agree that the solution to this is getting people back into the workforce but there are huge barriers, particularly for lone parents. One of the Minister's predecessors, Deputy Burton, who made the changes that directly impacted lone parents, said she would not introduce those changes until we had affordable child care, which is a huge barrier to getting lone parents in particular back into the workforce. This has not been addressed and will not be addressed - certainly by this Government. Outside of that, what specific measures are being taken for children in lone parent families to ensure they are not in that poverty trap?

Photo of Regina DohertyRegina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

As I referred to in response to a previous question, there are barriers, not just to lone parents gaining employment. There are barriers to everybody who is unemployed - be they long or short-term unemployed - and the job of my Department, my officials and I is to break down those barriers and assist people. We have a specific plan that has been enacted that the Indecon report shows is working notwithstanding the fact that many of those people who are less welfare-dependent have a lesser income. However, as I said to the Deputy, my role and that of the Department is to get people a job, a better job and a career. This is why we are focusing so much on education, advancement and training for lone parents. The bursaries were introduced by the Department of Education and Skills. There are incentives within my Department to improve the standing and skills of people in that area. That is our job.

Perhaps it is natural and human that when a report comes out, one will concentrate on the positive parts of it but I have never shied away from reflecting on the fact that lone parents are probably one of the most maligned and vulnerable sets of people in this country, which is why they were my main priority in the budget. I do not think we can discount that.

Photo of Pat GallagherPat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Minister will have another opportunity to reply.

Photo of John BradyJohn Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Minister says lone parents were one of her key target groups in the budget. I admit there were small changes. I do not think they went far enough. A €2 increase for a qualified child must be regarded as small. It is trivial. If the Minister looks at the Indecon report and the survey that was carried out, she will see that 11 specific questions were put to lone parent families regarding the affordability of basic items like fuel, a decent coat or decent shoes. Anyone who was surveyed said that they are in a worse position than they were 12 months ago. There are huge challenges here. The Minister can talk and say she is on their side but action speaks louder than words. There are many other actions that should and could be taken. Certainly Sinn Féin put forward many of those in our alternative budget. These figures are for 2016. The Indecon report is probably more up to date. There are huge problems here and the Minister needs to take them on board and make changes.

Photo of Pat GallagherPat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

We will take a supplementary from Deputy O'Dea and then hear from the Minister. We will then proceed to Question No. 11.

Photo of Willie O'DeaWillie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

We spoke about the SILC report earlier. There have been slight improvements in poverty levels but does it not worry the Minister that in respect of some indicators for lone parents, it is moving in the opposite direction? For example, the risk of poverty for lone parents increased from 36.2% in 2015 to 40.2% in 2016. There have been slight improvements in the other indicators but the fact still remains that one in four lone parents in this country are still living in consistent poverty and more than one in two are experiencing deprivation. When I read the Indecon report, it seemed to suggest that the changes brought about by Deputy Burton in 2012 gave rise to an increased probability of risk of poverty. As Deputy Brady alluded to, what we have been doing since those changes were introduced is bringing in incremental measures here and there to alleviate the consequences of what was done in 2012. Would it not be simpler and more efficient, and I suggest just as cheap, to revert to the 2012 situation? Has the Minister any figures regarding what it would cost to revert to the 2012 situation?

Photo of Regina DohertyRegina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

What is interesting is that both Deputies would criticise me for not highlighting a particular negative result in the report and just focusing on the positives of it yet neither of them are willing to acknowledge the very positive contributions of Budget 2018 for lone parents. I think that is a pity and says a lot about the Deputies.

In response to Deputy O'Dea, we are not willing to reverse the changes that were made because they are working. Two separate things were done around 2012. In respect of changes made through us intensifying our activities with lone parents in order to move from them being entirely dependent on a social welfare system to getting a job, and I am moving that policy from just getting a job to getting a better job to getting a career; through the introduction by the Minister of Education and Skills of the bursaries to provide full-time educational supports for lone parents; and through my intensifying the interactions with lone parents to make sure we do not just tick a box because they happen to be working in a local supermarket, coffee shop or school, I want to make sure that when we move these people from social welfare dependency to employment, it is good, sustainable, long-term and well-paid employment. The only way we will do that is to continue our interactions with people to make sure that when they get a job, they get a better job and then get a career. That is the commitment I am giving to lone parents. We will not be reversing any of the changes that were made in 2012. What we will be doing is drawing back on the cuts that were made that affected those people and intensifying our interactions with people who face barriers to getting full-time employment to make sure we break those barriers, be they child care or lack of training.

12 o’clock

If we need to take other facilitative measures, we will do so. The job of the Department and its Intreo offices is to make sure that we provide those services to people who need them.