Margaret Cox (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister to the House, and I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak on this issue. I congratulate the Minister on addressing the matter. It can be sensitive at times, and no matter what is said, comments can sometimes be interpreted the wrong way. The way the Minister has acted — with an open, transparent, involved and inclusive method — has created the type of environment which is allowing us to discuss the issues which cause challenges and difficulties on a daily basis to those families with lone parents. It has been said that the majority of lone parents are mothers but many are fathers. What matters is that a person is a lone parent, rather than whether they are the mother or the father.

I welcome the Minister's recent undertaking to address the issue of responsibility. Every child born in this country has two parents, because it takes two people to make a child. If we continue to allow fathers to ignore their responsibility we fail the children of this State. We should do whatever is necessary to ensure people face up to their responsibilities and fathers, in particular, must be forced to pay adequate attention to their children, as well as provide financial maintenance. It is not acceptable for fathers to say children are not their problem. An education programme should be provided in schools, aimed particularly at young men but also at young women. Young men at an age when they are able to father a child must be told they cannot do so without taking at least some responsibility for bringing it up because it is not exclusively the responsibility of the State. It is not just a question of money but support and recognition. Every child is entitled to have two parents so he or she does not grow up feeling different from other children, whose mother and father live together. There should continue to be a focus on parental responsibility, in particular that of the father.

One of the key elements of this report stresses the need to reduce poverty. It asks what we can do for lone parents to help them escape the poverty trap. Some 60% of lone parents work, and I will focus on them. The problem is that they are often in low-paid employment. How can they afford to pay for child care? How do they afford transport to and from work? They are continually struggling to escape the poverty trap. All of us who have children know how difficult it can be to work while rearing them but it is even more difficult without the necessary resources to pay for child care and other supports in the home, such as those that release a mother from homemaker duties. We must enable the 60% of lone parents who work to progress from low-paid to better-paid employment. We must ask what supports we should give employers and parents themselves in the form of training grants. The CDP programme administered by FÁS, which develops the skills of people in certain sectors, could be rolled out to lone parents not covered by the scheme at the moment. A dedicated grant should be available to them to enable them to graduate from jobs paying no more than €10 per hour to those paying up to €20 per hour. That would mean they would be paid enough to make it worth getting up in the morning and would be rewarded for the effort they put in. It is difficult enough when there are two parents, with one doing the school run in the morning and the other in the afternoon, but it is very difficult alone. I call for focused, specifically directed schemes for the education of lone parents in low-paid employment.

We must ask why 40% of lone parents do not work. In the run-up to the last election I held a forum every month with different groups of people. Two groups stick in my mind, namely, widows and lone parents. At one meeting I asked a group of 15 young girls what they most wanted to do. Most of all they wanted to get out of the house, to be able to leave their children at a crèche or somewhere they knew they would be looked after, and go to work. They wanted to finish at 1 p.m. and maybe collect the child from the crèche or from school. They wanted to make a contribution rather than remain hangers-on, which is the stereotype that attaches to them.

People still ask lone parents why they did not know better than to get themselves into such a situation. Why did they not use contraception, given that it is available in chemists, pubs and vending machines? The girl is always blamed in these cases. Whether they became lone parents by choice or by accident, they are entitled to live their lives with dignity, instead of being subjected to a vicious cycle of poverty, deprivation and an absence of role models. What do children who grow up in houses without a working parent learn? What kind of a role model or mentor does that create? Our challenge is to bring about a joined-up policy of education, training and child care.

The Minister increased the amount a lone parent could earn and still qualify for the one-parent family payment to €375 per week. Does he realise that as soon as a person earns more than €60 per week, his or her rent allowance is reduced? It is ridiculous for the Minister to allow a person to earn up to €375 but to reduce rent allowance once €60 is exceeded. All parents want is a roof over their head and food on the table for their children. Worries over a temporary job not lasting or the loss of rent allowance, necessitating a visit to the Department of Social and Family Affairs, are barriers for people who are already at a disadvantage. They fight the same battles families with two parents fight every day and then have to fight more battles to earn the right to go out to work.

We could put in place simple measures to make a huge difference to the lives of lone parents. It is all very well to make child care available and there are many community crèches. The Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform is very focused on the issue. However, community crèches close at 6 p.m. so a person cannot pursue a night course or even go out one night a week. Everyone is entitled to some social life but where can these people get a babysitter? We could put in place supporting networks, where one parent supported another, or a scheme involving transition year students, creating a support network enabling people to lead normal lives. If lone parents can attend an evening class they are happier, more fulfilled and better parents as a consequence. By helping people progress from poverty into a situation where they can provide for themselves and their children and be mentors and role models for them, we will alleviate the problems of lone parenthood and create happy family homes. Thus will we avoid the creation of ghettoes in the future.

The Minister said that social reform was part of his vision but social reform starts at a basic level. It does not start with big, eye-catching measures but with education, training and development and better work opportunities. It requires support for employers to encourage them to employ lone parents, the adoption of flexible working hours and grants and schemes encouraging people to hire lone parents. We are not afraid of addressing other groups in society so should not be afraid of addressing lone parents. If we are to provide a parental allowance and engage with children aged seven, eight or 12 years, we must establish support structures. As Senator Cummins noted, one size does not fit all and, therefore, we must not rely on a single support structure.

Sex education and promoting the message among young people that bringing a child into the world, particularly as a lone parent, is hard work should be the responsibility of the Department of Social and Family Affairs. In addition to making life better for those who have children, we should encourage young people not to engage in sex until they are ready to do so and have started out on life. Young girls aged 16, 17 or 18 years should be advised to avoid circumstances in which they are left carrying the baby while some young fellow is running around the streets and discos getting as drunk as he likes and taking no responsibility. Addressing this problem must be a joint effort on the part of the education and social welfare systems.

I am pleased to have been afforded this opportunity to speak on this issue and welcome the Minister's decision to examine it with a view to introducing radical, meaningful changes. I extend my best wishes to him in his work.