Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Question 21: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the outcome of his consultative forum with lone parent groups held at Farmleigh House regarding his recent discussion paper on proposals for supporting lone parents; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17365/06]

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Question 28: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the response he has received to his recent discussion paper on proposals for supporting lone parents; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17364/06]

Willie Penrose (Westmeath, Labour)
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Question 58: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if his attention has been drawn to concerns expressed by lone parents groups that some of the proposals contained in his recent discussion paper on proposals for supporting lone parents could create poverty traps and the particular concerns expressed regarding the proposed withdrawal of the new parental allowance in respect of children over eight; his views on these concerns; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17362/06]

Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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Question 63: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if he will give assurances that the proposed supports for lone parents will not result in new complexities and poverty traps, age related or otherwise in view of the fact that OPEN, the national network of lone parent groups, has produced figures that show that a working lone parent with a child over eight would stand to lose almost €90 a week or €4,624 per annum. [17540/06]

Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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Question 78: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the way in which he envisages lone parents under the Government's discussion paper on proposals to support lone parents be prioritised in terms of accessing flexible childcare provision; and if he has consulted with the Department of Health and Children to allow for measures to address this issue under the new childcare programme 2006-2010. [17538/06]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 21, 28, 58, 63 and 78 together.

The Government acknowledges that the risk of poverty, especially child poverty, tends to be higher among one parent families, larger families and those faced by long-term unemployment, due mainly to the direct costs of rearing children, including child care costs, and the opportunity costs related to the reduced earning capacity of parents, arising from their care responsibilities. This applies particularly to one parent families as the lone parent has to be the main breadwinner and carer at the same time.

One of the key tasks in the "Ending Child Poverty" initiative under Sustaining Progress is to address obstacles to employment for lone parents. The Senior Officials Group on Social Inclusion was mandated late in 2004 to examine this issue and report back to the Cabinet Committee on Social Inclusion with specific proposals. A sub-group of the Senior Officials Group examined obstacles to employment for lone parent families, with particular emphasis on income supports, employment, education, childcare and support programmes and information.

As part of this process, a working group established in my Department reviewed the income support arrangements for lone parents, looking at issues including the contingency basis of the one parent family payment, cohabitation and the fact that the payment can act as a disincentive to the formation of partnerships and discourage joint parenting.

As a result of this process which included consultation with the social partners, I recently launched a major Government discussion paper, "Proposals for Supporting Lone Parents" which addresses the social exclusion and risk of poverty faced by many such families and their children.

The report puts forward radical proposals for reform of the income support system for all parents on a low income. The report proposes the expanded availability and range of education and training opportunities for lone parents, the extension of the National Employment Action Plan to focus on lone parents, focused provision of childcare, improved information services for lone parents and the introduction of a new Parental Allowance for low income families with young children.

The Government has asked the Senior Officials Group on Social Inclusion to draw up an implementation plan to progress the non-income recommendations of the discussion paper, including those related to childcare, education, training and activation measures and work on this has already commenced in consultation with the Departments and agencies concerned.

As a follow-up to the publication of the discussion paper, I hosted a National Consultative Forum on 27th April 2006. This Forum was attended by social partners, representatives of organisations dealing with lone parents and the unemployed, representatives of Government departments and State agencies who will be responsible for the implementation of the proposals in the discussion paper and members of the Oireachtas. At the Forum, I heard the views of each organisation on the proposals including their comments on the proposed parental allowance and invited them to make a formal written submission setting out those views.

The Government will listen closely to the views expressed and will give very serious consideration to them. As soon as I am convinced that we have reached conclusions that are sensible, fully workable and clearly thought out, it will be my intention to bring forward proposals for legislation during the course of this year.