Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

As Senators are aware, this debate has been going on for some time. I appreciate that the amendment before the House has been tabled for pro forma reasons to allow us to discuss the issue. I would have no difficulty in returning to the House to debate this subject from time to time. Indeed, I doubt if I could avoid it, given that the subject is so controversial.

Senators have raised a number of issues. Some 79,181 persons are in receipt of one parent family payments, compared to a figure of 58,000 in 1997. We are now moving increasingly to localise the administration of the lone parent's allowance. That move is well under way which means the allowance will be dealt with locally rather than nationally and will bring lone parents more fully into the system. By getting closer to the system we will be in a position to help them on an individual basis.

As Senator O'Meara said, one-parent families do not form a homogenous group. They include widows, widowers, separated and divorced people, unmarried people and so on. It is important that we take that into account in discussing lone parents.

I have spoken publicly on many occasions about the cohabiting rule. I am determined that we will examine this matter. I do not have a solution but it is not good social policy that requires inspectors to check up on homes to ensure that fathers are not living there. Having said that, it is a lone parent's allowance and until we find a solution we have to continue with the current system. I would like to find a solution to that.

It is generally accepted that the most effective way out of poverty for all ages is through employment. One of my main objectives is to provide lone parents with employment and to ensure they are able to return to education. A recent figure indicated that only 50% of lone parents had completed primary education. That is a cause of concern. We will have to take a long and close look at how we can provide educational opportunities for that group of lone parents.

We have to approach the debate from the point of view of not looking at lone parents as a problem. We must consider them as a national resource that is available to the workforce and to the education system, if that is their choice, rather than seeing them as a problem that has to be paid for and solved, as if signing a cheque solves the social issue when it does not.

This is a significant challenge and the solutions are not easy but the direction is clear. We must find a way to lead and provide choice in terms of back to education opportunities and work. We must also examine the issue of cohabitation in terms of what kind of society would emerge if we were to continue to stand over the current system in the way we have to at present for administrative purposes. If we look at it from the child's point of view, it is not a social policy with which we can continue in the long term. We must find a way to deal with the matter.

I spoke already about the disregards. In the context of lone parents they are designed to encourage people to return to employment. Senator O'Meara asked me specifically about rent allowance. I am not sure if she suggested, as has been done on many occasions, that what lone parents worry about most is losing their rent allowance. It is fairly solid income——