David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Unfortunately, the amendment was ruled out of order. It sought to reverse many of the cuts or changes made to the one-parent family payment and raised the cut-off age to 12 years. We believe the lowering of the age will make it far more difficult for many lone parents to get back to work.

It was interesting to read through the Dáil exchanges on the issue. The Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection, when she was defending her position, said that there would be an immediate incentive to increase the number of hours worked each week and that those involved would be financially better off than at present. That was her justification for raising it, as if it were as simple as that. We know and the Minister of State knows that we have a major problem with underemployment. We have a problem with many low-paid workers, particularly women. Many are low-paid workers in the retail sector and other sectors. They want to work more hours but cannot get the hours and are not in a position to get them. It is not fair to say that many lone parents are going to be better off because of these changes. That is simply not the case. Certainly, they can speak for themselves and they have been clear advocates for their circumstances in recent years.

What we were trying to do with the amendment was reverse the changes. Unfortunately, the amendment was ruled out of order. In any event, I was keen to raise the point again.

Like Senator Mooney and other Senators, I support the thrust of the Bill. It does not go far enough from our perspective but it does give something back to people on social welfare that was taken from them in recent budgets. One of the cuts which was most unfair was the change to the lone-parent family payment. We are being told we have a recovering economy. Figures out today suggest there is plenty of money about the place. The Taoiseach's comments in the Dáil also indicate this to be the case. If there is loads of money about the place, why are we not reversing these changes? When we put questions to the Tánaiste on this issue, we were told it would cost approximately €21.7 million to fully reverse it. Like many things, that should be considered by Government. I was keen to raise the point again under the section, although the amendment was ruled out of order.