Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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700. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she has plans to introduce targeted measures to improve the circumstances of one-parent families in 2023, given that there were no targeted measures for these families in Budget 2023; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [55139/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I was pleased that Budget 2023 included a social welfare package worth almost €2.2 billion. I am very mindful that lone parents continue to be a group with a high risk of poverty and for that reason I was particularly pleased to provide a number of measures in Budget 2023 which will be 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 payments of the €500 cost of living lump sum payment which will be made to recipients of the Working Family Payment this month will be made lone parents.

I have also provided for a €40 increase in the weekly income thresholds for the Working Family Payment from January. 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.

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.

I can assure the Deputy that 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.