Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

-----so it is very unfair that these cuts and changes should be brought in. It is another case of the Government hammering lone parents, who have been given a very raw deal since this Government came into office. In addition, the Government has not been willing to take on the amendments we have put forward in good faith. Some of them have been ruled out of order, but we wanted to propose again the raising of the cut-off age for the one-parent family payment scheme to 12 years, instead of lowering it to seven, as the Government is doing. The Government passed legislation in 2012, the purpose of which was to lower the cut-off age for the lone parents scheme from ten years to just seven years of age from this coming July. This is too young, particularly in the absence of the affordable child care and after-school care which was promised by the Government but which has not been delivered on. We propose this so that the social welfare Bill that is currently being dealt with in the committee would call off the scheduled cut and instead raise the cut-off age to 12 years.

It is scandalous that this Bill is being brought forward without all the other elements the Minister said she would bring in to support lone parents, many of whom are fighting to make ends meet. They find it very difficult. They are already in a difficult situation trying to raise children, but this is forcing many of them onto the breadline and forcing some of those who are already working out of the workforce. It is a detrimental move and for that reason, among others, we oppose this legislation.