Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 15 December 2004
99 Mr. Stanton asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the reason for the decision to reintroduce the half rate payment for lone parents in cases in which earnings are in excess of the upper threshold of €293 per week for six months and not the previous position of payment for 12 months; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33488/04]
View answerUp to last year, transitional arrangements also applied whereby a lone parent who exceeded the weekly earning threshold of €293 for receipt of payment retained 50% of his or her previous payment for a further 12 months.
This transitional payment was discontinued this year. Lone parents already on the transitional payment prior to the cut off date retained their entitlement to the payment for the remainder of the 12 months period. Lone parents continued to be eligible for the family income supplement.
I am, therefore, committed to reviewing the income support arrangements for lone parents as a priority. The review will be informed by recent reports completed by my own Department and by the NESF and an OECD study on reconciling work and family life, published late last year, which gave particular attention in that context to the position of lone parents.
There will be an examination of the overall transitional arrangements under the one parent family payment scheme in the context of that review. I have provided for reinstatement of the half-rate payment for a period of six months, pending completion of the review. Lone parents, of course, continue to be eligible to apply for the family income supplement, which is the mainstream in-work benefit available to parents working in low income employment.
