Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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599. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the way in which and when she plans to unwind cuts made to lone parents' payments during the recession as reported recently; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5860/18]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Since taking up my role as Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection last year, I have made it clear that my priorities include working families, and in particular, lone parents.

In Budget 2018, I continued to improve the situation for lone parents through an increase to the income disregard of the One-Parent Family Payment (OFP) and the Jobseeker’s Transitional Payment (JST) from €110 a week to €130 a week; an increase of €5 to the primary rate; and a €2 increase in the Increase for a Qualified Child (IQC) rate. These positive measures will see a lone parent on the OFP or JST, who is working 15 hours a week on the National Minimum Wage, better off by nearly €1,000 per year. These Budget measures will take effect from 29 March 2018.

My Department’s social impact assessments of Budgets 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 are an indicator of these improvements. These show a cumulative increase of €36.75 in the average weekly household income of employed lone parents (and €33.60 for unemployed lone parents). This compares favourably with a weekly increase of €34.45 for the average household.

I am confident that Budget 2018 will improve the financial situation of lone parents and I intend to continue to prioritise supports for lone parents as budgetary provisions allow into the future. I believe this should be done in particular through provisions which incentivise work over welfare, and assist lone parents to enhance their skills and consequently their opportunities. I believe that employment has the potential not only to boost incomes and thus to help lift lone parents out of poverty, but also to achieve other social benefits for lone parents and their children.