Marie Moloney (Labour) | Oireachtas source

The recent changes in the budget to the single parent tax credit have had an adverse effect on single parents, predominantly men in this case. The devil is in the detail. Not only do single parents lose the tax credit, but they also move up to the higher tax band more quickly as a result. It is a double whammy. The knock-on effect is a large reduction in income, leading to a substantial reduction in their maintenance payments to their partners, one party taking the other to court for maintenance and higher one-parent family payments.

I called for this debate to address a situation that has arisen whereby there is a requirement for one partner, the primary carer, to give written permission for the other parent to avail of the tax credit. We are going backwards. It is like how a husband used to have to give written permission for his wife to use a tax-free allowance. We must address this issue. In real life, many marriage and relationship break-ups can be nasty and result in collecting children at the door without partners speaking to each other. There are many good men who are willing to be part of their children's lives despite those break-ups and it is demeaning to make them get written permission in order that they might avail of this tax credit. Revenue must be in a position to know whether a primary carer is working and to make the tax credit available to the other parent if the primary carer is not using it. I await the Minister of State's response.