Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)
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Before we commence, I remind Senators that a Senator may speak only once on Report Stage except the proposer of the amendment, who may reply to the discussion of the amendment. Also, on Report Stage, each amendment must be seconded.

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein)
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I move amendment No. 1:

In page 6, to delete lines 31 to 38, and in page 7, to delete lines 1 to 30.

Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)
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Do we have a seconder?

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein)
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I think so.

Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)
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I second the amendment.

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein)
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Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. I understand this issue was discussed at length on Committee Stage with my colleague, Senator David Cullinane. This amendment proposes the deletion of section 4 which deals with entitlement to carer's benefit, carer's allowance and respite care grant. In a submission on the Bill, the Free Legal Advice Centres and the Community Law and Mediation Centre have called for the deletion of the section, arguing that it does nothing but make it more difficult for carers to access income supports. They describe section 4 as negative law-making. It introduces a presumption of ineligibility for the payment which the applicant will have to overcome, whereas at present, the applicant must demonstrate his or her entitlement and the deciding officer must make a reasoned decision from a position of neutrality and objectivity. The submission notes that the outworking of this change will see more and more eligible applicants having to go to the appeals office to secure their entitlements with the lengthy waits and hardship this involves.

Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I thank the Senator. He is correct in saying his party colleague debated this issue at length. Unfortunately, I will probably give him an answer similar to what I gave to his colleague. I recognise that the information raises some concern. I want to make it absolutely clear that all claims for all three payments are already decided by a deciding officer and have been since the scheme was introduced. The deciding officer may seek the opinion of one of the Department's medical assessors, in which case in arriving at a decision they will consider that opinion with all the information supplied by the claimant. The claimant always had to provide information to the deciding officer. This section is not negative legislation. The legislation reflects very clearly what has been happening within the Department from the inception of the scheme. I cannot accept the amendment which has been debated by the Senator's party colleague here and also by his party colleague in the Dáil on Committee Stage. It is not putting a negative connotation on it, it is a reflection of what currently happens within the Department. I thank the Senator for raising the issue again.

Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)
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Does the Senator wish to respond?

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein)
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No.

Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)
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How stands the amendment?

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein)
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It is being pressed.

Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)
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Amendment No. 2 is ruled out of order as it involves a potential charge on the Exchequer. According to my officials, the matter is deemed out of order.

Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)
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Amendment No. 3 is ruled out of order as it involves a potential charge on the Exchequer. That is the ruling by the executive of the House.

Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for his continuing involvement in explaining and clarifying the various issues that have arisen in this legislation. As he will be aware, two particular issues arose that have generated some controversy and outright opposition from this side of the House in respect of the family dividend and the fact we believe a financial burden will be placed unnecessarily on lone parents who are being forced back to the workforce as a result of this legislation. Let us make no mistake about it, they will find themselves in a situation where their State benefits will be cut to the extent that they will have little choice but to try to seek work. Usually that is part-time low-paid work. I have asked previously and I ask again what will happen to the child in those circumstances who will be left home? If there is nobody to care for the child, it means the lone parent will have to stay out of the workforce. I have no problem with having a pathway to work, education and upskilling, but the bottom line is that the financial realities that will be imposed on lone parents will not result in the outcome proposed by the Government.I do not see why there is a need to introduce section 3 of this Bill regarding now having an additional deciding officer for the carer's allowance. It now refers to a medical assessor who is an officer of the Minister. GPs were, and continue to be, quite capable of assessing and evaluating the legitimacy or otherwise of a claim in this regard. This seems to be just an added layer of bureaucracy that will result, ultimately, in some applicants being turned down despite the fact that their GP has approved them, which will save more money. This is not progressive legislation. It is a cost-saving exercise and it is not addressing the priorities in the area of social welfare. In the context of the spring statements today, when we are talking about the proposed new land of milk and honey that is being proposed by the Ministers, Deputies Howlin and Noonan, it is sad that the people who are most disadvantaged in society and who are relying on State benefits will find themselves out of pocket as a result of this legislation. That is a shame on the Government.

Marie Moloney (Labour)
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I welcome the proposal in the Bill for the back-to-work family dividend. This is a very helpful measure to get people back to work. With regard to the one-parent family payments, the transitional payment will ensure that lone parents do not have to be available for work when school is not open and they can be at home to look after their children if they can find a job. As I mentioned on Second Stage, and I spoke to the Minister of State following that debate, it might be worth creating some sort of incentive for employers to put in place a programme specifically for lone parents, so that they can work around school hours. I am sure he will have a look at that in due course and perhaps revert to it.

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein)
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Táimse agus mo pháirtí ag cur i gcoinne an phíosa reachtaíochta seo. I remember when the Minister, Deputy Burton, raised the issue of changing the age of children for eligibility for lone parents allowance in this House. We were promised at that stage that it would not come in until we had Scandinavian-type child care-----

Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)
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Does Senator Moloney remember that? She should remind her Minister of it.

Marie Moloney (Labour)
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I will. I thank the Senator.

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein)
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We certainly have not seen that coming online-----

Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)
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The Minister of State is here.

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein)
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-----so it is very unfair that these cuts and changes should be brought in. It is another case of the Government hammering lone parents, who have been given a very raw deal since this Government came into office. In addition, the Government has not been willing to take on the amendments we have put forward in good faith. Some of them have been ruled out of order, but we wanted to propose again the raising of the cut-off age for the one-parent family payment scheme to 12 years, instead of lowering it to seven, as the Government is doing. The Government passed legislation in 2012, the purpose of which was to lower the cut-off age for the lone parents scheme from ten years to just seven years of age from this coming July. This is too young, particularly in the absence of the affordable child care and after-school care which was promised by the Government but which has not been delivered on. We propose this so that the social welfare Bill that is currently being dealt with in the committee would call off the scheduled cut and instead raise the cut-off age to 12 years.

It is scandalous that this Bill is being brought forward without all the other elements the Minister said she would bring in to support lone parents, many of whom are fighting to make ends meet. They find it very difficult. They are already in a difficult situation trying to raise children, but this is forcing many of them onto the breadline and forcing some of those who are already working out of the workforce. It is a detrimental move and for that reason, among others, we oppose this legislation.

Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The back-to-work family dividend is a very positive element. It will help many people who are quite distant from the workforce and who are worried about whether there will be a financial dividend in going back to work. There is a significant benefit for people in going back into the workforce and not having to worry about whether they will lose money. The back-to-work family dividend will help many people back into the workforce.

It is undoubtedly very difficult to raise a child alone. At the height of the Celtic Tiger, a huge sum of money was thrown at this issue by Fianna Fáil, which did not improve matters.It was done with the best of intentions but it did not improve the circumstances of lone parents and, in fact, they slipped further into poverty. All the research and advice indicates that the way out of poverty is through a job. That is what this Government has been about. The Senator's reference to the proposed new land of milk and honey is a little beneath him, given that I normally respect his contributions. I certainly would love to live in a land of milk and honey where there is jam for everybody. I hope we will get back to a position where we will be able to make significant investments in the social infrastructure after the country was almost bankrupt only four short years ago with only 53 or 54 days of money left. We faced the possibility in the autumn where teachers, nurses and doctors would not receive their salaries.

Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)
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I think that is a bit of an exaggeration.

Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour)
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It is not.

Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)
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The bailout was forced on the Government. The Minister of State knows that.

Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I beg the Senator's pardon.

Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)
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We all due respect, we can all rewrite history. Let us talk about the future. Let us forget the past.

Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I have always shown the Senator respect. I know the Senator does not want to go back to history although it is not really long ago. It is four years ago which is a very short time period.

Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)
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I am not talking about that. The Minister of State is in government. It is the Government's policies that are being debated.

Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)
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Let us stick to the Bill.

Marie Moloney (Labour)
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Look at what we have done.

Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour)
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This is not targeted particularly at Senator Paschal Mooney because his contribution to the House goes beyond reproach.

Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for that.

Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour)
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This is not targeted at the Senator. It is just a statement if fact,

Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)
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This is just-----

Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)
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Will the Senator restrain himself now that he is winning? He is doing fine.

Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)
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I should stop when I am ahead.

Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)
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I ask the Minister of State to speak on the Bill.

Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour)
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That is the reality and that is where we found ourselves. I sat in the parliamentary party room with my colleagues in the House listening to the things that were about to happen and the dire economic straits the country was in and it was a very difficult place. There have been some improvements but it is not a land of milk and honey. I certainly hope we will get there sooner rather than later.

Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)
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No. The prediction seems to be that-----

Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)
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The Minister of State to continue, without interruption, please.

Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The best way we can help lone parents is by helping them back into good paid work. The Minister of State at the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Gerald Nash, has started that process. The Senator mentioned special arrangements for lone parents. There are some companies that already operate special arrangements. I am aware the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection has raised with the Labour Market Council the issue of looking at areas where we can assist family friendly working hours specifically targeted at lone parents. There is a job of work to be done in that area and that will be done.

There are 25,000 subsidised child care places and many initiatives in place. An interdepartmental review group, under the remit of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy James Reilly, will report shortly. However, those cannot be reasons to do nothing; we have had that for too long in the past. We need to build a viable working society that values everybody equally and we have to assist everybody back into work, not just lone parents, across the whole spectrum. As a Minister of State with the special responsibility of activation, I see on a daily and weekly basis, when I am travelling and meeting communities, people who have distanced themselves from the workforce for two, five, six or seven years. In regard to single parents, the system that operated distanced those people for 18 to 22 years. I saw them regularly in my clinic when they came in after that period and had no way back into the workforce because their work skills were gone. There is, therefore, a major job of work to be done to ensure that everybody will be able to share in the recovery, which is taking some time, and that people will have a real possibility of actually entering the workforce and working their way out of poverty.

This is the third recession I have seen. I will not remind Senators of the other two. As Senator Mooney is sensitive today, I will not remind him of his party's past mistakes. I have witnessed groups in my constituency left behind in the 1990s. The answer was to throw money at the problem in the hope that it would disappear but it did not and instead created intergenerational unemployment which did nobody any favours. We have to ensure we do not do that again.

I commend the Bill to the Seanad. The issues raised relate to decisions made in 2012 and are being phased in over a period. It should be mentioned that if a lone parent takes up a job and gets the additional hours, there will be a significant increase in take home pay. That point seems to be missed. I agree that we have to do everything in our power to make sure all our citizens have an opportunity to share in the benefits of what the Senator called the land of milk and honey and, hopefully, we will get there. I have always had great time for the Senator but I think he let himself down a little bit today.

Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)
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I was not talking about the current situation.

Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Please.

Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)
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Purely on a point of order, to be honest it was only a remark that was made in the context of the spring economic statements today of the prediction based on what was being proposed that we would now enter into a period of-----

Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I did not hear anyone say a land of milk and honey.

Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)
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In fairness, I would not want it to be misinterpreted that I was talking about the current situation. It was far from that. That was not the point.

Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)
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The Senator has made his point. We will move on. I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Kevin Humphreys, and his staff for coming in to deal with the Bill and answering any questions that arose. I thanks Senators for their contributions.