Darragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail)

The Minister proposed a timetable even though she claimed age seven is too young. All the changes the Minister proposed in the Dáil last week will be implemented with effect from 3 May. There is no get-out clause for the Minister. There is no timetable set down to provide affordable and sustainable child care which the Minister has asked her Cabinet colleagues to do. She mentioned other jurisdictions which removed the payments at a much younger age but have different child care provision.

The question I asked at the start is probably the easiest to answer. Will the Minister give a commitment today that there will be no change to the free pre-school year in the Government's term? If the Minister is bringing forward these changes, it is crucially important the Government gives a commitment, at the very least, that the system that is in place for the free pre-school year stays. For all the bluster last week in the Dáil by the Minister claiming she did not like introducing section 4 as it is a terrible measure, which it is, there is no get-out caveat and it is not conditional on any provision of additional child care. She put it up to her Cabinet colleagues to say she would not implement these changes. However, she in fact has effectively introduced them. What was said last week was wholly incorrect. Section 4 comes into operation on 3 May 2012 with no other plans to make life easier for lone parents. Last week the Minister, who was under ferocious pressure, tried to wash her hands of some of the most unpalatable and significant changes that have been made to lone-parent allowances for as long as I can remember.