Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I disagree with the Minister. I know we simply disagree. I do not believe it is a measure that encourages lone parents into education. Encouraging lone parents into education is something we have supported but is a separate issue. What the Minister is talking about is the income disregard. A lone parent who is managing to work and has a child is entitled to an income disregard of €150 until that child is 14. This effectively involves a difference of €100 when the child turns 15. Even though there has been an increase in the qualified child payment and a recognition in general that the costs of teenagers are higher, some of the most vulnerable families, which tend to be lone parents, effectively face a €100 drop in the income disregard at a time when the costs of looking after their children go up. Another way of looking at it instead of looking at the cost would be to recognise that this would be a way of ensuring a targeted intervention for families that might need it most, given that lone parents have consistently come through in the CSO and every measure in the State as having exceptionally high levels of poverty. That €150 income disregard will not be of relevance to lone parents in a positive economic situation but it will make a significant difference to the poorest lone parent families, who will lose it when their teenagers turn 15.