Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

There are thousands of lone parents in this country who do not come next, nigh nor near the social welfare system who are in employment and who make a full contribution to the economic life of this country and who resent the debate that takes place around lone parents who are on social welfare. However, there are approximately 90,000 lone parents depending on social welfare, a number which has grown substantially in recent years, and strict conditions attach to that payment. The basic criterion is that one is parenting alone. There are generous disregards to allow people to work and to hold on to their lone parent payment. However, the system in Ireland, which has grown up over the years, in many ways facilitates a poverty trap and mitigates against people forming lasting relationships or marrying because as long as the child is in full-time education, we continue to pay the lone parent until the child is 22 years of age. In the UK, it is ten years of age but it is being reduced to seven years of age. In most other countries, it ranges from between three months to seven or eight years of age but in Ireland, it can be up to 22 years of age.

There are policy implications for Ireland as a society. We want to protect children and recognise the difficulty which lone parents have. How many lone parents have we all met who fear losing the book? They want to hold on to the book no matter what. People have said to me they are afraid of getting an increase or even a better job because they fear they will lose the book. These are social policy issues but in so far as we are talking about fraud and control, there are strict criteria which must be met if somebody is getting a payment, irrespective of what that payment is.