Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. The point I take home is that when we look at the Pobal deprivation index, over and over again the group that are the most vulnerable is single mothers. That has been the case over and over again when one reviews any of the statistics and looks at the data. What the Minister is bringing forward in this Bill is going to make a considerable change. She said it is going to impact more than 16,000 single parents at a cost of €10 million to the Exchequer. This is going to support families because the single-parent family allowance will not be means tested. The lack of a means test will also mean other social benefits.

The Minister also mentioned the removal of the requirement on the Department of Social Protection to see if some income was coming from the former partner or parent. That is going to relieve a lot of stress on these families. In my area, I know of cases of families where there has been a difficult marriage or partnership break-up. The Minister spoke about the issue in connection with the credit union. Families and mothers are left struggling to handle the cost of living and of children going to school. We are making changes. I know the Department is also looking at hot school meals and so on. These changes relieve the pressure and stress on parents, and I acknowledge that. It is something we have targeted. Cost-of-living supports benefit people. When we look at cost-of-living supports, we see that so many of them are benefiting everyone in our society. These changes, however, are really going to target the people who are most affected, those being single parents and single mothers, in particular. I acknowledge the efforts of the Minister and the advisory committee.

This is an opportunity for the Taoiseach, the Cabinet and the Government to look at child poverty. The child payment is for the child. The payment that will come for the mother or the father will be their payment directly. I want to acknowledge the work that has been done here. I know that we will see further developments around this as well. I am really pleased that this is targeting and going to improve the situation for people who are the most vulnerable when it comes to poverty in Ireland.