Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

With regard to the jobseeker's transitional payment, at the moment when the youngest child is 14 one moves from jobseeker's transitional payment to the live register and jobseeker's allowance. The problem is this does not deal with many of the issues of balancing care with the bureaucracy that comes with having a child for any family, but especially for a one-parent family given there is only one person to deal with all of that. To extend jobseeker's transitional payment from the age threshold of 14 to 18 would have a lot of merit. It would allow women or parents of children who are at what can be a vulnerable age to still have the system engage with them and recognise that balance of care, of work and of ambition the Minister mentioned. We agree very much on that.

There is currently a requirement for full-time availability for work. While many people may be available full time and wish to be available full time, there are those who are parenting alone who will not be available full time when their child is between the ages of 14 and 18, and they are in limbo within the system at present. That is why the potential shelter that is the jobseeker's transitional payment should be extended until the child is 18, with the cuts removed. It would not apply to everybody and it would not be needed by everybody. However, it would provide great reassurance for those with teenage children.

Of course, we want to ensure those teenage children have their potential recognised during those crucial years when the path may be set for the next generation. We do not want a parent who is torn between satisfying the conditions of jobseeker's allowance and the welfare of the child.