Pat Carey (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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Question 748: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if he will explain the policy rationale behind the decision to transfer recipients of deserted wife's benefit to one-parent family payment; if he will investigate this anomaly; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25257/05]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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The person concerned is currently in receipt of deserted wife's benefit, DWB. This benefit is a payment made to a woman deserted by her husband. An earnings limit was introduced for the deserted wife's benefit scheme in 1992. A recipient of deserted wife's benefit can earn up €12,698.38 gross per year without the rate of deserted wife's benefit being affected. Earnings between €12,698.39 and €17,776.33 per year will cause a reduction in the rate of benefit, on a sliding scale. No payment is made where earnings exceed €17,776.33 per year.

The one-parent family payment was introduced with effect from 2 January 1997, and at that stage the deserted wife's benefit scheme was closed to new applicants; however, existing entitlements to DWB already acquired by recipients at that point have been preserved. Under the one-parent family scheme the earnings limits range between some €7,600 per year and €15,236 per year, at which point a transitional payment may apply for a period of six months, followed by a cessation of the one-parent payment.

As part of an ongoing review of deserted wife's benefit recipients undertaken by my Department, the person concerned was requested to forward a P60 for the 2004 tax year. The yearly earnings disclosed by the P60 show that the person's yearly earnings exceed €12,697.38. Therefore, her rate of payment will be reduced from €154.30 per week to €61.70 per week, as she no longer qualifies for the maximum rate of payment. If this person's circumstances change she should notify the one-parent family section of my Department which also administers the remaining deserted wife's benefit cases and her entitlement will be further reviewed.