Mary Henry (Independent)

I too hope the Minister will look again at this issue because it is going to be null and void for a large section of the population. Many people would subject themselves to poverty if they were to leave their employment to take up these added benefits. I must declare an interest in a particular group, namely single parents. I am the chairperson of One Family, formerly Cherish, which represents single parents. There is not just one type of single-parent family in the country. At present there are approximately 154,000 one-parent families in Ireland, based on the 2002 census. This represents some 12% of households and 11% of the population. A sizeable proportion of children are represented in this group. Almost half of those who head one-parent households are in employment. However, it will be impossible for them to take up the various leave arrangements.

While the loss of income in a two-parent family situation is bad enough, as Senators O'Toole and Terry have pointed out, it is totally out of the question in a one-parent situation. It is important to recognise this because figures have recently been bandied about on the terrible increase in the number of one parent families. While it is true that in the 1970s only 3,000 people were getting the unmarried mother's allowance, as it was called, some 15% of the 80,000 who currently receive allowances are fathers. Also included in the figure are prisoners' wives. Does anyone remember when prisoners' wives did not get anything while their spouses were in jail? I often wondered what these women were supposed to do. Were they supposed to become involved in crime to support themselves so that there would then be two parents in prison? I cannot remember when the support for prisoners' wives was introduced, but it is only a few decades ago. In addition, separated wives are in the same grouping as well as other groups who go to make up the figure of 80,000.

Good work has been done by the Department in identifying what is important to family well-being. The Department commissioned an interesting survey in 2003 which was undertaken by McKeown, Pratsche and Hasse. In their investigation at the Ceifin Centre in Shannon, they found there was no variation in the impact on children's well-being among the various family types studied, including one-parent families. The one issue that really mattered was the level of poverty within those families. We know that one-parent families, unfortunately, are more likely to run the risk of poverty. This is shown in European Union statistics which emphasise that 42% of one-parent families are more at risk of poverty in comparison to 23% of the population overall. I am quite sure we do not want to do anything which might in any way increase the risk of poverty even more in these families.

The reason these people will be taking time off from work is quite probably to deal with some problem or other and this will be an additional stress on families. I suggest that the Minister looks at this section again. It does not have to be a charge on the State. It can be negotiated with employers in pay deals, but I do not believe we can bring this in and argue that it will be useful when we know that for a large number of people it will be null and void. The Minister should look at this again because when legislation such as this is introduced, while it benefits individuals who may avail of the leave, the main benefit is for their children and for society in general.