Kathleen O'Meara (Labour)

I also welcome the Minister to the House. I welcome in particular his commitment to reform this area, which is certainly needed, together with his initiative in bringing forward proposals and engaging in a wide-ranging discussion about them. Today's debate is useful in that regard. Much of what I wanted to say has already been discussed so, given that my time is limited, I will touch upon one or two specific points. One such point relates to the proposals contained in the document, which is designed to support lone parents. I do not accept that making it compulsory is necessarily to support the lone parent. In fact, I was astonished that there would be a level of compulsory engagement with the system for the lone parent. I do not believe that would work because the system must be voluntary. It is suggested that when the youngest child is five, the lone parent engages with the system. At present there are people who would want to get their child into education and training long before he or she is five and perhaps when the child is one or two, but that is not happening.

I ask the Minister to seriously reconsider this matter because the other result of making it compulsory is to effectively stigmatise lone parents and feed into this stereotype that they are somehow feeding off the State and do not want to work and, therefore, must be made to work or enter training. There needs to be encouragement to enter training. Many Members receive visits to our clinics from lone parents on housing or other issues. While the children may be four, five or six years old now, I always ask young mothers what they will do in ten or 15 years when they are still young and the children are grown. I ask them to think about being in education or in a well-paid job.

The Minister should ensure there is no sense of compulsion around this issue. It must be voluntary and done in an empowering way. I support the notion of facilitators encouraging people to be in the system. One of the difficulties faced by lone parents is that being out of education, training or a job for a number of years leads to an undermining of confidence in themselves and their ability to be at work, as we know from the experience of the long-term unemployed. Support is needed but not a one-size-fits-all approach. Creating a compulsory system is not the way forward and would send the wrong message.

I welcome the Minister's proposal on cohabitation, as have others. The cohabitation rule has created a situation where fathers and male role models are simply not present in households, which is not good for children. It also has the crazy effect of discouraging women from being in solid relationships which would be good for them and would, particularly in the long term, support them. I support the Minister's initiative.

Members referred to child care, which is critical for lone parents. In supporting them to be in training, education or work, it is vital that accessible and affordable child care is available. In many cases community-based child care facilities must charge high fees to lone parents due to the underfunding by the Government, so there must be targeted initiatives designed specifically to support lone parents.

Overall, I welcome the proposals. Reform is necessary and I support the Minister's approach, although I ask him to reconsider the compulsory nature of the framework.