John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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1671. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the steps she has taken to correct the anomaly whereby the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005, which gives the State the right to demand a contribution from the other parent, refers only to the lone parent allowance and no other social welfare payment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1886/18]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The Family Law Acts, which are under the remit of the Department of Justice and Equality (D/JE), place a legal obligation on parents to maintain their children. In cases where the family unit has broken down these obligations continue to apply and relevant maintenance payments can be arranged either directly between the couple or through supports like the Family Mediation Service, the Legal Aid Board and the Courts. The arrangement of maintenance is therefore a matter between both parents regardless of whether or not either parent is in receipt of a social welfare payment.

The liability to maintain family provisions contained in social welfare legislation are separate to, and do not negate or supersede, parents’ obligations under Family Law. Where a lone parent is in receipt of the One-Parent Family Payment (OFP), the liability to maintain family provisions provide my Department with a legislative basis to carry out an assessment against the other parent and issue a Determination Order for them to pay a contribution either to the Department or the lone parent.

My Department has previously indicated its intention to review the current maintenance and liable relative procedures in light of the changes to the one-parent family payment scheme, and work had commenced on this review. Since April 2017, however, work on the review of the one-parent family payment, which was required to be completed over a short timeframe, took priority given the statutory nature of the review.

That review (the Indecon Report) was completed in October 2017 and the Report was laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas. Work has now re-commenced on the review of maintenance as it relates to my Department.

This review will necessitate my Department liaising with the Department of Justice and Equality as the Family Law Acts, which place a legal obligation on parents to maintain their children, are under the remit of that Department.

This is a complex area however I expect to have a paper from my officials on this shortly.