Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein)

I do not think any of those with whom I worked encountered such a case either. I sat in the Visitors Gallery of the Dáil with representatives of single parents' organisations like SPARK and OPEN during the Second Stage debate on this Bill in that House. I listened to everything that was said. There was great jubilation when the Minister, Deputy Burton, said she would reconsider this measure and made it clear that child care services would have to be put in place before it could be implemented. When I spoke to those involved in the campaign again a couple of days later, it struck me that they were very deflated. There was a sense among them that they had been subjected to public relations spin on the night of the big debate in the Dáil. I am not accusing the Minister of anything when I say that. An effort was made to take the heat off in the media because this had become such a big issue. That is one of this reasons this has to be reconsidered.

Lone parents have been contacting me again this morning to ask me to convey the message that they want to work. They do not want to sit on their backsides. They do not want to be at home. They do not want to be cut off from their educational possibilities. They want to be out there. They want to work. Child care is essential. It seems that section 4, which we oppose, is to be pushed through this House as it was in the Dáil. We have tabled amendments to the section as a safety option. We want to ensure that the services advocated by the Minister are put in place. I do not want to rehearse the points that have been made already.

I would like to remind the Minister of comments that were previously made by her colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Shortall, who is eminently knowledgeable on this area. When the last Government, which was led by Fianna Fáil, introduced legislation to reduce the relevant age from 18 to 14, she said:

The problem is that the Bill is not about activation; it is about cut-backs and the optics of doing something about long-term welfare recipients. How can one call it activation when in the first instance there are so few jobs of any description available? That is the big issue; the jobs are not there.

She continued:

There is no provision for extra training or for extra after-school care for the children of lone parents. There is not even a commitment from the Minister on ring-fencing any money that might be saved for helping welfare claimants into work or training.

She went on:

Lowering the qualifying age was meant to go hand-in-hand with better child care and training services, the introduction of a parental allowance to replace the one parent family payment and the ending of the ban on cohabitation. Where are these reforms? There is no sign of them in this Bill.

She continued:

The likelihood is that all that will happen is that an extra 12,000 lone parents will transfer to jobseeker payments over the next six years. This will inflate the live register figures by another 12,000 as people on one parent family payment are not counted at the current time. It is hard to know what the point of all that will be.

I have to say I agree with every word of that.

It is important to note, as I did during my Second Stage speech, that the Labour Party passed a motion at its recent conference calling on the party to "refrain from imposing any further cuts to benefits for lone parent families that would create further barriers to accessing work and education opportunities". I remind the House that the lack of child care is a barrier to accessing work and educational opportunities. I am quite confused, to be honest. I listened to the debates in the Dáil. The Minister has said she is opposed to the introduction of this measure in the absence of the availability of proper child care. Having spoken to members of the Labour Party about this proposal, it seems to me that they oppose it. Is this a case of Fine Gael cracking the whip of austerity within government? The Labour Party seems to be opposed to this measure. I have not heard members of Fine Gael speaking very strongly against it. We need to know what is the situation. There does not seem to be strong support for this measure.

I second amendment No. 3. I appreciate Senator Moloney's assurance that she is taking the Minister's word for what she says she will do. I have to say I am hearing echoes of previous debates in this Chamber. When we debated the septic tanks Bill with the Minister, Deputy Hogan, he told us not to worry because everything would be okay.