Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. We are in agreement on a number of issues. I have no difficulty with regard to the age reduction and I want people to be active rather than passive. The Minister of State acknowledged that the members of the group in question are living in consistent poverty. The missing piece of the puzzle is a child care programme that will work. How can the Minister of State justify people's FIS payments being reduced by €70 per week because they work 20 hours? For a mother and child or a father and child, that €70 represents food on the table. That is the aspect with which I have difficulty and it is what prompted me to pursue this matter. Those to whom we are referring are contributors to society. They are the mothers and fathers who produce the children that we are glad are born. We do not want to push them into poverty. As the Minister of State rightly indicated, we want to get them back to work. We must provide a structure that will allow them to contribute in another way, which is what they want to do.

I have a difficulty with the Minister of State's reply. I welcome the fact that one-to-one sessions will be facilitated but I am of the view that they are not going to work.