Kathleen O'Meara (Labour)

I welcome the Minister to the House. This debate, which I have followed on the monitor in my office, is a useful one and concerns important legislation. I acknowledge the work done by the Minister since his appointment to his portfolio and I would be party political and petty if I did not acknowledge that reform has been on his agenda and that he seems committed to bringing change.

I look forward to a thorough examination of the proposals published yesterday with regard to supporting lone parents. The Minister has signalled that we need to investigate the manner in which payments are made to lone parents and that it is time to modernise our approach to the issue.

In the past, the lone parent allowance, and before that the single parent allowance, came into operation and was to be welcomed. There were many cases of women on their own, trying to support themselves and their children in a state of poverty. The lone parent allowance, as it has developed over the years, has allowed many women, in particular, to support their children in an independent fashion. There have been complications, however, which the Minister pointed out in yesterday's document. These include the issue of cohabitation, but other issues are also evident. I look forward to examining the relevant proposals in detail, as it may not be appropriate to comment on them now.

Other Members have referred to a number of issues that are relevant to lone parents, and I wish to deal with these also. Senator Ormonde finished on the matter of lone parents in the workforce. Many lone parents work, and we should not have the old-fashioned notion that they are all scrounging on the State, as this is no longer so. Public representatives sitting in clinics around constituencies meet lone parents who have many problems. I would always ask what are invariably young women whether they are on a training course, and if not, why not, and when they could begin one. I would also ask what job they could get on finishing such a course.

There is a core group of such people who may not even be thinking this way. I would say to such people that they are young, perhaps in their early 20s, with a child of three or four years of age. In 15 years these children will be ready to leave home, and the lone parents will only be in their 40s. Will these people look at a life without work, complete with boredom and dependency on the State? We must consider this question, as the Minister appears to be doing judging from reports in today's newspapers. That is to be welcomed. We must examine this area as a generation of children is being raised in an environment where the family has no history of employment, or there is no experience of someone in the household being in employment. This cannot be considered a positive experience. We should consider how to support an entire family.

This leads to the issue of child care. The child care supplement is very welcome, although it amounts to under €20 per week. We should not be churlish and be too critical of it, but it will not be enough for many people given the high cost of child care. We should consider a series of measures that fully support those parents who wish to place their children in child care, and actively encourage those who may be considering the idea, or who may not have thought of it. This issue may be dealt with by the Minister with regard to some policy change in the future. Part of the problem is that the child care area is too segmented.

The support for community child care facilities, particularly those in receipt of capital funding under the EOCP, needs to be improved with regard to the staffing grant. In particular, we need more targeted investment and incentives in those child care facilities where lone parents are present, especially those being educated or trained. The direction and thrust of the policies, right across Departments, must be to encourage, support and enable parents, particularly low-paid or social welfare dependent parents who are in education or training. The supplement on its own will not be enough to do this, and other levels of support are required. Delivering these through community child care facilities would be useful.

Along with a number of my colleagues, I visited a project in Tallaght a number of months ago. The project was in a community with a high level of disadvantage. Like many other similar projects it depends on community employment schemes to staff the facility. It tried to run parenting programmes, for example, along with pre-schools in an attempt to get mothers to bring children in, even those mothers who were not working or in training. This is aimed at giving children the best possible start in life. We must consider targeting investment at this area. While welcome, the supplement is not high enough. It should be accompanied by other targeted investments to support the cohort of lone parents. The Minister knows of the type of people to whom I am referring.

I have noticed that a number of young women are now taking up child care as a career option. This is welcome as there is some flexibility with courses being far more widely available than they were, such as those being run through VECs and FÁS. Child care is developing as a career option because the industry is growing, and this makes the option attractive. This should be welcomed, as young women are being well trained, and their own children and the children they work with in their communities are going to be well supported by this type of education and training. It will stand to these people and their communities at every level. This is occurring for a variety of reasons, and I wish to acknowledge it.

The Minister mentioned combating pension poverty, and poverty among those dependent on the State pension. I welcome this also approach, but a number of actions should be taken on this front. While the value of the pension continues to rise, which is welcome, there is another side to the equation where pensioners, like others, are being badly hit by increases in bin charges and other services.

Free schemes make a difference, but there may be imaginative ways of extending such schemes, such as a free bin service. I have no idea what the cost of such a scheme would be or how it could be managed with private companies running the waste collection service. One of the major issues I hear of from pensioners is that a pension increase is often apparently followed by a bin charge increase. In many cases, the pension increase is effectively wiped out, and this bothers people. A few counties operate waiver schemes, but the free schemes make a difference to pensioners. Could we consider this in the context of pensioner poverty? It is simply a suggestion, and I have no idea how much it would cost.

Senator Terry raised the matter of older women's pensions and I agree with her comments. That area is in dire need of consideration, and I ask the Minister to take on board what Senator Terry has said. I support her fully and look forward to the Minister's response. The main points have been covered by other speakers, so rather than repeating what they have said, I welcome the legislation and the Minister's reforming approach on this issue.

I would not like to discommode anybody by finishing early so I will discuss the issue of carers. Much has been done for carers in the past number of years. Whichever Government was responsible it should be acknowledged that we have finally given recognition to carers by the extension of carer's leave. We must monitor the situation closely because the majority of carers are women, who can become lost because the work is home-bound and isolating. It is usually a full-time occupation and many also care for their own family. The only chance they get to state their needs is when a representative such as myself turns up on their doorstep. They have insufficient time to communicate to people the nature of their role.

I also welcome the Minister's stated intention to change the names of some schemes. The simpler we can make their names the better because doing so makes them more accessible. Am I required to finish now?