Terry Brennan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 2:

To delete all the words after "Seanad Éireann" and substitute the following:- acknowledges that despite significant levels of investment, including an estimated €607 million in 2015, the One-Parent Family Payment scheme has not been successful in preventing lone parents from being significantly more at risk of consistent poverty than the population as a whole;

- recognises that in 2004, during the height of the economic boom lone parents were more than four-and-a-half times more at risk of consistent poverty than the population as a whole. (SILC data);

- recognises that Ireland’s supports for lone parents need to be updated in order to provide for greater levels of opportunity for lone parents and for their children;

- acknowledges that the very long duration, potentially 18-22 years, can engender long term social welfare dependency and associated poverty and social exclusion amongst lone parents and their families; and

- welcomes the Government's decision to retain the One-Parent Family Payment income disregards at €90 per week;

- recognises the Government’s commitment to:

- maintain core social welfare weekly rates of payment;

- tackle long term social welfare dependency by ending the expectation that lone parents will remain outside of the labour force indefinitely;

- enhance lone parents' access to the range of education, training and employment supports and services in order to develop their skills set with the aim of securing employment and financial independence; and

- support lone parents to make the transition from the One-Parent Family Payment onto another social welfare payment;

- welcomes the steps the Government have taken to ease the transition of affected lone parents from the One-Parent Family Payment, including:

- the introduction of the Jobseeker's Allowance transitional arrangement, which allows lone parents whose youngest child is aged 7-13 to balance their caring responsibilities by exempting them from having to be available for and genuinely seeking full time employment;

- the creation for the first time the opportunity for lone parents to have access to a Case Officer on a one to one basis in order to agree their own personal development plan;

- the automatic reviews and increases of Family Income Supplement for affected lone parents, following their transition from the One-Parent Family Payment;

- the introduction of the Back to Work Family Dividend for all lone parents who transition off OFP into employment and which allows them to retain their child proportion of their social welfare payment;

- the introduction of the After School Childcare scheme and the Community Employment Childcare Scheme to build on the existing 25,000 subsidised childcare places, which the State provides to low income parents in order to facilitate their transition into employment;

- the establishment of an interdepartmental group to carry out an economic and cost benefit analysis of policies and future options for increasing the supply, accessibility and affordability of quality child care;

- the proposal to allow lone parents in receipt of half rate Carer's Allowance to retain their One-Parent Family Payment until their youngest child is 16 years of age;

- the facility to allow lone parents who are currently undertaking an education course and are in receipt of a SUSI maintenance grant to maintain both their One-Parent Family Payment and the SUSI maintenance grant until they have completed their course of study;

- the proposed extension to the Jobseeker's Allowance transitional arrangement, which will allow all lone parents who have a child aged 7-13 to access the special arrangements of the transitional arrangement and not just former recipients of the One-Parent Family Payment;

and

- welcomes the research the Department of Social Protection is sponsoring into an active inclusion approach to lone parents, which is examining best practice and innovative approaches to assisting lone parents improve their well-being."

Despite huge investment in the one-parent family payment scheme, it has not been successful in preventing lone parents from being far more at risk of consistent poverty than the general population. Since the scheme was introduced in 1997 until the end of 2010, recipient numbers have increased by half and annual expenditure has increased by over €750 million. The total figure was in excess of €1 billion per year from 2008 to 2012. Throwing money at the problem clearly has not worked. As far back as 2004, lone parents were more than four and a half times more at risk of consistent poverty compared to the population as a whole. This was when the economy was booming and the previous Government showered every problem with available cash.

Before the changes, lone parents could have been on the scheme until their youngest child turned 18 or 22 if they were in full-time education. Those criteria are also very much outside the norm internationally. What does this say? It says that the State is happy for someone to be on welfare until their child is an adult. That is not the way to ease poverty and help families. Additionally, the State pays one of the highest rates of child benefit in the developed world, yet it has one of the highest rates of child poverty in the developed world. All the evidence at home and internationally points to employment as the solution to poverty and exclusion. I believe this is the only solution. In its most recent report on employment and social developments in Europe, the European Commission indicated that there is a strong link between poverty and social exclusion on the one hand and the labour market on the other hand. It presents evidence that countries with high employment rates display lower rates of poverty or exclusion. When I say "employment", I do not mean any old job. I mean employment that enables someone to earn a living. Employment does not automatically lead to the eradication of poverty. The quality of the employment and the active engagement of the person with the job market throughout a lifetime are essential. There must also be personalised approaches and counselling to ensure that people take up high-quality and sustainable jobs. Public investment in job creation is vital and has been at the core of this Government's jobs strategy, particularly in sustainable, high-quality jobs. In order to address poverty, these jobs need to be accessible to people experiencing poverty.

I, like Senators Zappone and van Turnhout, worry wholeheartedly about the levels of poverty and deprivation experienced by one-parent families in Ireland. I agree that their levels of poverty are much higher than the incidence in the general population. I also fully support Senator Zappone in her views on the child care element of the issue, which were very practical. I sincerely hope that there will be moves in the forthcoming budget to address this. I also agree with Senator Zappone that it is unacceptable that we still have such levels of poverty and deprivation in this day and age.

I would also point out that none of these things are new. We have been living with the same situation for generations. The approach we are discussing is an attempt to address that. I do not get a sense from the Senator's contribution that she has a principled objection to work activation measures or a move from a system that discourages welfare dependency. However, I think the Senator is right to point out that some people have genuinely held worries about what might be called the possible unintentional consequences of the changes to the scheme. In that light, I think it would be appropriate to review the scheme's operation after a given period to test its effectiveness.