Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Amendment No. 14 addresses the qualified child increases, QCI. I totally recognise not just what Senator Higgins said, but what NGOs have said, that it costs more money to raise teenagers. I have a few of them at home. We know that they go round with their hands out all of the time and that they grow out of clothes more quickly. I do not need to be told that.

I would have loved to have been able to reflect and recognise that this year, but because of the way the budget negotiations were structured and the numbers we had to consider, there was not a significant sum left over to implement specific policy measures. The qualified child increase of €2 this year was the first increase in eight years. That is not enough, but had I reflected the over 12 years, and under 12 years, I would have ended up giving €3 to one and €1 to other. I thought the money was so miserable in the first place. That is not to say that I do not recognise the point that the Senator has made. I do recognise it and in next year's budget and budgets thereafter, we will reflect the reality that having teenagers does cost more money. I can only give my word on amendment No. 14, as opposed to tabling an amendment.

A number of services are available to people on the jobseeker's transition payments. We need to reflect on when we brought it in, that some of the people we did not get to might have children over 14 years of age and they would have gone on to jobseeker's allowance or benefit before they got to avail of the full range of services that were specifically designed for lone parents with children aged between seven and 14 years to upskill and educate themselves. I will ensure we carry out an analysis to make sure that if people have gone to the next level and did not avail of the services, that we proactively go after them.

We will proactively ensure that we reach all of the 32,000 lone parents who are under the jobseeker's transitional umbrella. We have only reached 60% of them to date and we will ensure that we get to the remainder before they transition to the next jobseeker's allowance. Just because somebody goes on to jobseeker's allowance, does not mean that we should treat him or her differently. We still should recognise the limitations that they have and the concerns of care.

There are many more children that present with difficulties over and above the number who would have presented ten to 30 years ago. We need to recognise the barriers to work. That comes back to the personal progression plan that people have with the staff in our Intreo offices or our agents. If we are not fully aware of the barriers that exist in people's lives then we cannot plan around how to help them to become job ready and to become employed. I am absolutely adamant that there should be no limits to women or men who are parenting alone who want to upskill or educate themselves. The idea of only having 20 courses that one can go on and the rest of the world is closed off is not acceptable to me. I will come back to this Chamber in the next couple of weeks with a complete list of what is available both through e-learning or through our education courses. If we do not like the look of it, then we will change it. I give Members my personal commitment that will be changed by me.