Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I support the Government amendment. I thank everyone for their contributions. I was present for the entire discussion. The Senators who have remained in the Chamber are probably familiar with my record in this House. I come in, I listen and I try to work on the basis of any viable and good ideas I hear. It is very rarely that I take offence in either House, but I have to say I took grave offence from the comments of Senator White because I do not come from a privileged background. The Labour Party is not a populist party. We have had to come in and fix this country twice after it was crashed and burned by the party she represents and for which she intends to stand as a candidate at the next general election. I believe her comments were more about the next general election than about what she actually believes. I will debate that with Senator White at another stage. I was particularly saddened by the tone of her remarks. As Senators know, I rarely respond to remarks in this House.

There is no doubt that this country has gone through an incredibly tough and painful period. Our people have toughed it out through the very worst of times. The reality is that we protected the most vulnerable people when the public finances were at their most vulnerable. Our system of social transfer, as welfare payments are known, is the single most effective in the EU when it comes to preventing poverty. We can stack up report after report. People have mentioned reports. Senator van Turnhout is not here, but I would like her to be aware that in budget 2015, this Government correctly increased child benefit and partially restored the Christmas bonus. It is a fact that in January of this year, we retained the weekly income disregard of €90 under the one-parent family payment. That is this Government's record.

This is a reforming Government. The reform of the one-parent family payment scheme, which has been under way for three years, is vitally important because over time it will greatly help to reduce poverty among lone-parent families. This Government has reformed the one-parent family payment because for too long, the previous systems failed lone parents. Since the scheme was created in 1997, lone parents have been more at risk of poverty than the population as a whole. According to the most recent data from the CSO, which comes from its 2013 survey of incomes and living standards, some 23% of lone-parent families are at risk of consistent poverty. This is 2.5 times the level among the population as a whole. It is simply not acceptable. In 2004, at the height of the greatest economic boom this country has experienced, some 30% of lone parents were at risk of consistent poverty. To put it another way, they were 4.5 times more likely to be at risk than the population as a whole. Incredibly, this figure had increased by 2006 to the extent that lone parents were five times more likely to be at risk than the population as a whole.

The easiest thing to do in politics is nothing. Senator Mooney spoke about "the level of fury" and matters like that. In the past, Fianna Fáil sometimes responded to fury by trying to be populist. I would like to think this Government is prepared to take decisions that are unpopular in the short term in order to do the right thing. I do not think these decisions will be unpopular in the long term. This Government is not prepared to tolerate certain outcomes without looking at how they can be improved for lone parents and their families. Before these reforms, Ireland was alone internationally in its system of supporting lone parents. Lone parents were able to stay in the one-parent family payment scheme until their youngest child turned 18, or 22 if he or she was in full-time education. According to a 2003 report published by the OECD, Babes and Bosses - Reconciling Work and Family Life, the one-parent family payment scheme needed to be reformed to reduce the expectation that lone parents would be in receipt of this payment for the long term. Other countries have moved away from providing income supports for such long durations and towards a shorter and more engaged approach that is designed to support lone parents as they make the transition into employment.In New Zealand, the Netherlands and the UK, for example, the equivalent support for lone parents ceases when the youngest child reaches five years of age. More recently, OECD research shows that single mothers in Ireland have one of the lowest employment rates in the OECD. Less than 48% of single mothers in Ireland worked in 2011 compared to the OECD average of nearly two-thirds. Forthcoming research by the OECD will show that this disparity continues with only 51% of single parents in Ireland in employment in 2014 compared to an EU-15 average of 69%. In Ireland's case, these numbers have been remarkably stable over time, at 50% in 2002, 51% in 2007 and 51% in 2014, which clearly indicates that the gap was apparent before the crisis and points to a structural problem.

It should be recognised that Ireland has the highest lone parent penalty in the OECD. On average, single parent households in OECD countries have a disposable income equivalent to two-thirds of that of a household with children and more than one adult. Ireland is the only country where single parent households have less than half the disposable income of households with children and more than one adult. This is the principal reason single parents are consistently more at risk of poverty in Ireland than the population as a whole. However, we know from the research that being at work reduces the risk of poverty rate for lone parents by three-quarters. That is why there had to be a change in our approach to supporting lone parents.

The Government is committed to improving the provision of child care, including the supports that are available to lone parents. We have introduced schemes that offer heavily subsidised child care places to assist lone parents to take up community employment placements or jobs. Both of the schemes build on an annual investment of €260 million to provide high quality child care which benefits approximately 100,000 children.

I am anxious to respond to the points that were made in the debate. In response to Senator Mooney, the Tánaiste has said she will examine, in the context of the budget for 2016, the various supports available to all families with children, including single parents who are in full-time and part-time employment. The Senator asked me to address that directly. Regarding the Scandinavian child care system, the reforms were announced in budget 2012. I have listened to the debate on this in the House previously, and Senator Moloney referred to this in her contribution. The reforms announced in 2012 are very different from the reforms implemented last month. The original reforms required lone parents, whose youngest child was seven years of age, to be actively seeking employment. This has changed and now only applies at 14 years of age due to the introduction of the jobseeker's transitional payment. That gives parents the advantage of being able to engage with the Intreo centres and the different possibilities of support in education.

Senator Zappone asked about the research of Dr. Michelle Millar. That research is continuing and is due to be finalised by the end of the month. As part of the research, Dr. Millar has undertaken an extensive consultation process, including meeting with lone parents' representative groups. We hope the research will be completed by the end of the month and I am sure the Tánaiste will share that information with the Senator as soon as she has it.

Senator Norris raised the access of self-employed lone parents to one-parent family and jobseeker payments. I will address that with him at a later stage. On child care, there are 100,000 State subsidised child care places supported by the Department and 25% of these are supported for low income parents.

Senators raised a number of other matters. The back to work family dividend is linked to people who exit core social welfare payments, that is, jobless or lone parent payments, and they are not required to be in receipt of FIS. Senators have quoted a number of figures but the early indications of the number of people who are gaining - we only have early indications and I do not accept the 4,000 figure for those who are losing - are that 1,650 will have an increase in income. There is a change in that way.

Senator Healy Eames brought up the issue of the father. I was in the House when the Children and Family Relationships Bill was debated. The Senator will recall that it is now required that the father's name be put on the birth certificate. That is the beginning of recognising that there is a father and partner involved.

I hope I have addressed the vast majority of the points raised. It has been a full and informative debate and I have taken several notes. Senator Moloney asked about access for lone parents to the JobsPlus scheme. Some of that has been addressed by the Tánaiste. The best way to move out of poverty is through employment and to break down the barriers. That is what the Tánaiste has been doing. Again, I thank the Senators for their contributions. There is a great deal more work to be done in helping lone parents to get back into the workforce and to move out of poverty, and I will be doing that work for the remainder of my time in office. I am not concerned about re-election. We must concentrate on doing the right thing, not be populist and not respond to the fury of Fianna Fáil when it is expressed at times. In many ways, that is what got us into this situation. Twice in my lifetime this country has crashed and burned and the Labour Party has had to step in and rebuild it.