asked the Minister for Social Welfare (a) the number of persons between the ages of 18 and 30, 30 and 40, 40 and 50, 50 and 60, 60 and 70 and 70 and 80, respectively, in receipt of deserted wife's allowance and (b) the total number of dependants living with persons in receipt of this allowance.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Desertion Statistics.
7.
As the reply is in the form of a tabular statement I propose, with the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, to circulate it with the Official Report.
Following is the statement:
(a) Number of persons in receipt of de serted wives' entitlement:
|
Age Group |
Deserted Wives' Benefit |
Deserted Wives' Allowance |
Total |
|
18 to 30 |
226 |
283 |
509 |
|
30 to 40 |
483 |
626 |
1,109 |
|
40 to 50 |
347 |
549 |
896 |
|
50 to 60 |
292 |
827 |
1,119 |
|
60 to 70 |
117 |
655 |
772 |
|
70 to 80 |
6 |
Nil |
6 |
|
Totals |
1,471 |
2,940 |
4,411 |
(b) The total number of dependants living with persons in receipt of deserted wives' entitlement is 6,360.
In the age group 18 to 30 how many people are in receipt of this allowance?
Five hundred and nine.
8.
asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will, as a matter of urgent public importance, conduct a survey into the causes and effects of desertion; and if he will make a general statement on the matter.
While my Department administer schemes under which payments are made to deserted wives, I consider that a survey as suggested by the Deputy might more appropriately be carried out by an independent organisation. In this connection, the Deputy may be interested to know that an exploratory study entitled "Marital Desertion in Dublin" was published by the Economic and Social Research Institute in 1974.
Has the Parliamentary Secretary any suggestions as to what independent group might examine the problem in 1976?
There are a number of appropriate bodies capable of carrying out such a survey.
Would the Parliamentary Secretary name one of these bodies which he considers appropriate in his capacity as a junior Minister in charge of this matter?
As there are a number of appropriate bodies capable of carrying out such a survey it would be inappropriate for me to single out any particular one.
Has the Parliamentary Secretary any idea what form this survey might take or how it might be conducted?
As I implied in reply to the question I think it would be more appropriately carried out by an organisation who have at their disposal people with certain qualifications, such people who specialise in surveys of this kind.
Would the Parliamentary Secretary consider the possibility of encouraging the AIM group to conduct such a survey? Would he give that group financial assistance to do such a survey and to find out the causes and effects of desertion?
Any proposals which come from any organisation will be given suitable consideration by the Department. I should point out to the Deputy, however, that when this Administration took over there were absolutely no funds at all available in the Department of Social Welfare to carry out such desirable surveys and, not only that, but we were not in a position to give any financial assistance to organisations which were carrying out surveys. I am glad that position has improved.
Question No. 9.
That is very encouraging. I am glad to hear the Parliamentary Secretary say that there will be funds available for continuing such surveys.
I am afraid the Deputy is not hearing the Parliamentary Secretary.
I heard him very well.
Order. I wish to make progress on other questions also.
A final supplementary, if I may. The Parliamentary Secretary said in relation to Question No. 7 that 500 people between the ages of 18 and 30 are deserted. Can he say if this is permanent desertion?
It would be impossible to say in respect not only of any individual case or any individual instance if desertion is permanent or not. A man could be gone for a considerable time and he could return tomorrow. It would be impossible for me to answer that type of question.
Question No. 9.
A final supplementary.
The Deputy has already said that.
If a wife is found to be permanently deserted and she wishes to remarry, having regard to the situation which exists, that her marriage is basically at an end, is it contemplated by the Government to introduce legislation to amend the Constitution to give effect to the will of that person to remarry?
The Deputy should be but obviously is not aware that that would not be an appropriate matter for the Department of Social Welfare.
That is not what I am asking.
Question No. 9. We cannot debate this matter. The Chair has been generous in the number of supplementaries allowed.
I take it the Parliamentary Secretary will agree that this is a critical social problem, particularly having regard to the fact that he has given figures of over 500 between the ages of 18 and——
That is in addition to the other figures.
Assuming he agrees that it is a pretty critical social problem, does he not recognise that the Government—and we are talking of the Government of the moment— have a grave responsibility to discharge in this area, a responsibility which they cannot abrogate by reference to some other organisation which the Parliamentary Secretary is very slow to indicate or nominate.
This is a somewhat long question.
It is the same question. Does the Parliamentary Secretary acknowledge that the Government have a responsibility in this social area and, if so, how do they intend to discharge it?
I fully accept the statement in the first part of the Deputy's question when he claims that there are many social evils in our society.
Let us stay with this one.
I should like to broaden the issue because there are many social evils in our society which affect a number of our people. A deserted wife suffers not only from the fact of her desertion but she suffered, unfortunately in some respects, from a sad and, indeed, criminal neglect in many of these areas by the Deputy's party when they were in Government.
Are you going to answer the question after all that?
I am indeed but I shall answer it my way, not the way the Deputy wants it.
In a political way.
There are a number of social evils in our society and very little is known about the cause of them. Recently, we endeavoured to give assistance to appropriate organisations which specialise in the carrying out of such surveys and which have the necessary facilities to do so. In my original reply I referred to the survey carried out by the Economic and Social Research Institute and that, among others, is obviously an appropriate body to carry out such a survey. Any proposals for surveys by any organisation which come within the realm of aspects of social welfare policy made to the Department of Social Welfare will be given very serious consideration.