Phil Prendergast (Labour)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and I welcome the Bill and its provisions. The three major areas in social welfare relate to pensions, lone parents and carers and in that regard the Bill could have addressed many of the anomalies that relate to pension entitlements, particularly for women and retired people with integrated pensions, who will have to wait for another year.

I am disappointed no steps have been taken to improve the situation facing lone parents. Decisions need to be made on long-promised reforms of the system of supports for lone parents. Measures that facilitate the return to work for lone parents must not worsen their situation financially. The current system traps lone parents in unemployment or underemployment, which can create a barrier to stable relationships. The rate of poverty for this group is actually rising, as evidenced by recent statistics, and one in three households with consistent poverty were found to be headed by lone parents.

The cohabitation rule is a major issue. It should be abolished to allow genuine reform to take place as it makes no sense from either a social or family perspective to keep people apart. However, as the current rules governing cohabitation would see their welfare payments very significantly reduced, people must take the option of staying apart.

Child care is a huge issue and because it is so expensive it remains out of reach of many lone parents. Adequate affordable child care is a must for this disadvantaged group. Training opportunities are also vital as many are denied opportunities to remain skilled or cannot avail of upskilling or training opportunities for those not previously in the workforce, which is important. Any reforms of the system should allow lone parents to exercise the option of full-time parenting when children are young without suffering socially or financially.

Every public representative could relate umpteen cases of constituents who have problems with regard to returning to work. Two cases that came to my attention and that of my colleagues in recent months illustrate these points well. One was referred to in a letter I received, which stated:

I am a mother of 3, currently receiving lone parents.

Before my breakup, I was a full time employee, working at the highest level of my experience.

In previous years, due to this woman's circumstances, she had been unable to work. Her youngest child was starting school in September and she decided to take the opportunity to try to get back into the workforce. The only entitlements she had been receiving were one-parent family allowance, rental income supplement and she had received medical cards for herself and her children. She received maintenance from her ex-partner, which was declared, and her entitlements had been means-tested and the necessary deductionsmade.

She was successful in receiving a CE scheme through FÁS to work locally. She took up this employment towards the end of June. She was earning a wage but she took up the employment with the understanding from FÁS that CE schemes were structured as a path to reintroduce people back to the workforce while enabling them to keep any entitlements they were receiving. Unfortunately, that was not the case for this woman. Her one-parent family allowance has been reduced by €92.50 per week and her rental income supplement has been slashed so that the payments now provide her with only €276 a month towards her rent, which is €1,200 per month. Before she took up employment, €837 per month was paid towards her rent. As matters stand, when she added up all the deductions and factored in that she must pay for child care while at work, she would be €84.05 per week better off if she was not working.

That intolerable situation is a reality for many. The Minister should have the desire to ensure that people can move from welfare to work. We all know of real-life cases. A second letter states:

I am an unmarried mother of one. I am currently living with my partner who is a stay at home father. I wish to query the governments treatment of unmarried parents in this day and age.

My boyfriend applied for social welfare payment a few years ago before our daughter was born. He was told that due to the fact that he did not have enough contributions the welfare payment he was entitled to would be calculated on a means basis. He provided all relevant details to the official. He was told that because he was living with me and I was working, my income would have to be taken into account when assessing his means. At the end of this process he was told that he was entitled to ... €20 a week. It is shocking that anyone would be expected to live on this amount.

Under the taxation rules I am not entitled to use any of his tax credits as we are not married. In addition to this I am not entitled to claim single parent credits as we are living together. I feel that it is very unfair that we are treated effectively like a married couple for social welfare purposes and as single people for taxation purposes but not single when it comes to claiming single parent credit.

This is an anomaly. These are real stories, not just stories made up to look good in print. I do not want to waste the Minister's valuable time but there are many cases I know of from my clinics which demonstrate this point — I am sure my colleagues know of similar cases. Parents in this situation should live together and should not have to suffer financially or socially. It is difficult to argue with any of the points made in those letters, all of which stand up to scrutiny.

It is not defensible to have a welfare system that penalises lone parents who decide to go out to work and penalises cohabiting couples for living together and rearing their children. The incentives and supports, both in terms of welfare and taxation, would seem to be there for such parents to live apart.

There is an urgent need to reform how the rent supplement scheme works from the points of view of both taxpayers and recipients. There is a major problem with the inadequate exchange of information between the Department of Social and Family Affairs, the Revenue Commissioners and the Private Residential Tenancies Board. As well as needing assurances that money paid out by State agencies is subject to tax by those who receive it, we should also have assurances that all landlords are registered with the PRTB.