Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

There is already a requirement for engagement, and opportunities for engagement with Intreo and other schemes, under the jobseeker's transitional payment. It is not a matter of the requirement to engage or even working; it is about the full-time availability for work. That is the main component. It comes to the fact that within the jobseeker's payment, and in the system more generally, it tends to be very binary. People are considered either fully available or not available at all but there are people who have partial capacity or limited time. It would be constructive if the Minister reviewed this issue. We could strengthen the engagement under the jobseeker's transitional payment between the ages of 14 and 18 without bringing in that requirement for full-time availability because that is a gap.

This also has a discriminatory element to it because in households with two parents, it is possible for one parent to be an adult dependant and not be required to be available full-time but that is not the case for lone-parent households. There is a different treatment of two-parent households with a child between the ages of 14 and 18 and one-parent households with the same. They are treated differently in terms of the respect and recognition given for their care roles. I am certainly not suggesting that we put additional constraints on the two-parent households; it is more that we should give similar support and recognition to one-parent ones.Work can be a route out of poverty but it is not always. We know that from the reliance on the working family payment, particularly for lone parents. People often find themselves in precarious forms of work feeling they have to go into that between the ages of 14 to 18 whereas if they were able to take up part-time work they may be able to access something more appropriate.