Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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679. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection her views on matters in correspondence (details supplied). [55017/22]

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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693. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will review a paper written by an organisation (details supplied) which outlines the evidence of the persistently high rates of poverty and deprivation among one-parent families; if she will implement the recommendations made as per the paper; her views on the reason that one-parent families are among the worst off in Irish society, yet there were no targeted measures to improve the circumstances of these families in Budget 2023. [55073/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 679 and 693 together.

In Budget 2023, I secured a significant Social Welfare package of almost €2.2 billion. As part of that, one of my priorities was to provide support for families and children. I am very mindful that lone parents continue to be a group with a high risk of poverty and there are a number of significant measures in the Budget which are of benefit to lone parents.

Recipients of One-Parent Family Payment and Jobseeker's Transitional Payment are amongst those who received a double weekly payment in October and who will receive a Christmas bonus double payment in December. Like all families with children, lone parents received a double payment of Child Benefit on 1 November. Lone parents in receipt of the Fuel Allowance will also receive a lump sum payment of €400 this month.

Approximately half of the €500 cost of living lump sum payments which will be made to recipients of the Working Family Payment will be made to lone parents.

I have also provided for a €40 increase in the weekly income thresholds for the Working Family Payment from January 2023. The personal rate of working age payments such as One-Parent Family Payment will increase by €12, from €208 to €220 per week, also from January. In addition, the rate of Increase for a Qualified Child will increase by €2 to €42 per week in respect of a qualified child under age 12 and by €2 to €50 per week in respect of a qualified child aged 12 or over. As a result, these rates will have increased by €6 for under 12s and by €10 for over 12s over the last three Budgets.

While income supports are important, access to affordable and available services such as housing, health, childcare, and education, plays an equally strong and potentially more sustainable role in addressing poverty.

I am aware of the report by the National One Parent Family Alliance and officials from my Department recently met with members of the Alliance to discuss the Budget package.

The ESRI analysis of Budget 2023 shows that the income of lone parent households will remain essentially stable as a consequence of Budget 2023 measures, with less than 0.2 per cent reduction, indicating that the Government measures are, in the main, effective at protecting lone parent households from the impact of the significant levels of inflation. The Budget 2023 Expenditure Report notes that lone parent households stand to benefit from a €1,872 annual increase in support.

The Department of Finance, in its analysis of the distributional impact of the tax and social welfare package of Budget 2023, found that single retirement age households and lone parents gain proportionally the most from both the Cost of Living Measures package and the 2023 package, with social welfare measures contributing the most to these gains.

The Government remains committed to the reduction of all forms of poverty, in particular for lone parents and children as outlined in the Programme for Government, and to the continued support of children and families across the country.

I trust this clarifies the position.