Tony Mulcahy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I want to bring a bit of reality to proceedings. I have been an elected representative for 22 years and have worked with lone parents since I was first elected. I employ three lone parents. People would want to tell the truth. There are anomalies and some systems do not work. I have had six representatives in my office over the past two weeks, of whom five have been better off since the changes. Their income has increased from €56 to €116. One is not better off and is short €42 a week, something I raised with the Minister of State today. I have a serious problem with people being left short.

I often wonder who thinks up these schemes, whereby jobseeker's allowance, family income supplement, the back to work family dividend and jobseeker's transitional payments are mixed. I would rather have a family where the income comes from work, family income supplement or whatever brought up to a decent living income, be it a one parent family with one or two children or a two parent family supported by family income supplement.

Every year, the Vincentians send us a breakdown of what a family income should be, and that is to where we should be trying to get. I can only refer to facts. I have seen the Government spiel about a one parent family with three children which, if all the right boxes are ticked, earns €578 a week. I do not deny that is a fact. An income of €578 a week equates to a gross income of €45,000 a year, something an employer needs to consider. I hired a woman last year who had been unemployed for 14 years and had a child. She was never happier than when she was back at work and I can honestly say she was the best employee I ever hired.

One cap does not fit all. There is an anomaly in the system, which Senator Kelly identified. The rule on 15 to 19.5 hours per week needs to be tweaked. One may be able to work those hours in Dublin, Limerick or Shannon, but one will not get them in Ballydehob or Ballygobackwards to allow one to be eligible for family income supplement. Family income supplement should be used to bring a family's income up to a decent living income. I have no problem supporting such a policy.

Senator Ó Domhnaill's contribution was interesting. Some 20,000 people will experience little or no change and, as I said, five of the six people I know received a large increase in their income. It is not right that a small percentage are losing while others are gaining at their expense. That is where the balance is wrong. I can never understand why, given all the expertise available in the Departments, somebody cannot do the sums correctly to determine what one parent with one child or two children needs to live on. We make things convoluted and confusing. The six people in my office did not have a bull's notion of what had happened. We helped them with the paperwork and applications, and five of them gained money which was positive.

We need to tweak the system because it is wrong. I have no notion of voting against the Government and I am a member of the parliamentary party, but there is something fundamentally wrong when any group, in this case one parent families, are targeted. I sent two women to the Minister of State's office yesterday because I thought there was something wrong if they were losing money. It would never be my intention for any family to lose money in a budget change like this.

This is only a motion, but it would be wrong of me to say we should not revisit this issue. We need to seek out the individuals affected. We have their PPS numbers, and I would like the Minister of State to address the issue I raised with him today. We should ensure family incomes are improved rather than diluted.