While Government policies are restoring economic growth, this recovery is not yet reflected in the 2013 SILC data on household living standards. The Government is committed to delivering improved living standards to ensure that this recovery is felt by all families. These recent measures taken should be reflected in future poverty statistics.
Social transfers have provided a hugely important buffer in reducing poverty. Expenditure on the scheme is estimated at €607million in 2015 with almost 70,000 recipients. However, despite significant investment in the past, lone parents remain particularly at risk of poverty.
The one parent family payment (OFP) was a passive scheme with limited engagement by the State with recipients. For many lone parents this has meant long-term social welfare dependency and associated poverty for them and their families.
In 2004, OFP was payable until the youngest child turned 18 or 22 if they were in full time education. Yet despite this support lone parents were over four-and-a-half times more at risk of consistent poverty than the general population. This is why we need to reform the scheme.
The reforms provide lone parents with improved access to the Department's range of Intreo services, which will allow them to create a personal development plan. Access to these supports is imperative for lone parents, to ensure that their prospects of securing employment and financial independence are improved. Any reversal of these reforms would delay this critical interaction and would potentially increase lone parent's distance from the labour market.
I therefore have no plans to reverse the OFP reforms.
