Maria McCormack (Sinn Fein)

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 5, between lines 17 and 18, to insert the following: “(3) Before the coming into operation of this Act, the Minister shall publish a report which outlines the following:

(a) the degree of financial dependence that families with divorced or separated parents have on those parents;

(b) an overview of the legal issues with not providing the same level of access to social protection payments for some children’s families based on the marital status of their separated or divorced parents.”.

I acknowledge that Deputy Coppinger tabled this amendment in the Dáil. It was a personal thing for her so I am glad to be able to bring this amendment to the Seanad. All of the amendments we would have liked to bring forward were ruled out of order in the Dáil, so we have focused our attention on this one, which I hope the Minister will consider.

It is baffling why, on the one hand, the Minister would extend rights to one cohort of families and children and, on the other hand, take it away from another group. We know there are only approximately 100 new divorced claimants for this pension each year. The amendment is fairly self-explanatory. It seeks an assessment of the extent to which the Bill will incur hardship on separated and divorced survivors and their children. It will also assess the extent to which the Bill goes against the original judgment and leaves the door open to families who will inevitably challenge the unconstitutionality of the Bill. I again acknowledge John O'Meara and his family for the work they put into getting the Bill to this point.